





im--. 



,''$-:■ 



fMlitili:. 



jFronttsptece.— ffi^entral Africa. 




The Inhabited Tree. 



p. 46. 



THE 



LAND OF MYSTERY; 



OK, 



SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN CENTEAL 
AFKICA. 



" Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand unto God."' 



J 



AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

1122 CHESTNUT ST., PHILADELPHIA. 



NEW YORK DEPOSITORY: 375 BROADWAY. 



\f]\ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, hy the 
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



]§^ No hoo?i-s are published hy the American Sukday-School 
Union without the sanction of the Committee of Publication, con- 
sisting of fourteen members, from tJie folloicing denominations 
of Christians, viz. : Baptist, Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, 
Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed Dutch. Not more than 
three of tlie members can be of the same denomination, and no 
hook can be pvibli^hed to ichich any member of the Committee shall 
object. 






PEEFACE. 



The object of this little volume is to im- 
part to Sunday-school children a knowledge 
of the late discoveries in Africa and in- 
terest them in the efforts now made to send 
the gospel to the tribes in the interior of 
that continent. 

If the evening conversations interest our 
readers as they have sometimes done cer- 
tain Sunday-school children whom the au- 
thor loves to call her friends, she will feel 
that her object is attained. 

The work is intended only as an aid to 
understand larger works on the same sub- 
ject and excite a desire to know more about 
this "land of mystery." 



A. E. p. 



1* 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Chap. 1. — A General View of Africa 9 

II. — Sketches of African Travel- 
lers 22 

III. — Animals of Africa 37 

IV. — ^BiRDS AND Plants of Africa 52 

V. — Insects and Serpents 62 

VI. — Journey through the Desert 72 

VII. — TiMBucTOo — Western Africa 88 

VIIL — Central Africa 98 

r 

IX. — Abyssinia 115 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chap. X.— Nubia , 129 

XL — Western Africa , 146 

XII. —South Africa 153 

XIII. — Sierra Leone 164 

XIV. — Mohammedans in Africa 169 

XV. — Missionary Labours 176 



SCENES AND INCIDENTS 

IN 

CENTKAL AFRICA. 

CHAPTEE I. 

A GENERAL VIEW OF AFRICA. 

The long evenings of winter had come. 
The sparkling snow covered the hills, the 
fields and the garden. A broad track to the 
village was kept open by the farmers' heavy- 
teams; and there was a narrow path to the 
little brick school-house on the bleak, unshel- 
tered common. There was also a path to the 
graveyard on the hill. 

The snow-clad hills, the naked trees and 
the cold gray sky formed a gloomy prospect 
without; but in Eobert's quiet home there 
was one cheerful spot. It was the little sit- 
ting-room, where he had drawn out the cen- 
tre-table, placed his mother's work-basket 



10 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

and some books and maps upon it, lighted 
the lamps and stirred up the fire. 

^^Now, mother/' said he, as he placed her 
sewing-chair by the table, ^^what shall we 
talk about these winter evenings ?'' 

" Last winter, you remember, Eobert, we 
spent most of our evenings in reading and 
talking about the Polar Eegions/' 

'^ Yes, mother, and it made me feel cold 
all winter; but I learned a great deal; and 
now, when I read about those dreary regions, 
I understand the track of the different voy- 
agers, and have a map that I can see in 
my thoughts, even when it is all dark and I 
am in bed/' 

^^That is well. And now I w^ill tell you 
the plan which I have had in my mind for 
some weeks. There is a part of our globe 
of which we know almost as little as of the 
seas about the Pole. It is a land of mys- 
tery. The light of the gospel has just begun 
to penetrate it, and Christians are looking 
to it with deep interest ; while they offer up 
prayers for its redemption from the deep 
gloom of barbarism. It is the land of the 
camel and the lion, the elephant and the 
hyena, of gold and ivory, luscious fruits and 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 11 

spices; but man is there sunk to the very 
lowest stages of barbarism/^ 

" I know, mother ! I know 1" said Eobert : 
"it is Africa/' 

^^Tes, my child, you have guessed right; 
and as the people of Christendom are begin- 
ning to feel a new interest in this region, 
and as explorers are returning with records 
of travel, I wish to have you prepared to 
read them ; and, to do so, you must have a 
more correct knowledge of former discoveries 
and of the history of the different countries. 
For some time I have been preparing my- 
self to give you this instruction; and, if you 
can keep awake until eight o^ clock, we will 
spend an hour every evening in Africa/' 

" Oh yes, mother ! I can keep awake when 
you talk; and Cousin Frank will like to lis- 
ten, too/' 

" Yes, aunt ! I do really want to learn 
about Africa," said a bright-eyed little boy 
of ten years. '^I know something about 
Egypt, the Pyramids, and the Catacombs, 
and the Sphinxes, and the river Nile, and 
I have read about the Barbary States and 
Algiers ; but it always seemed to me as if 
there was a great high fence below these, 



12^ THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

and I can't get a peep even through the 
cracks/' 

^^ Why, there is something worse than a 
fence, Frank,'' said Eobert : "there is the 
Great Desert." 

^^ I know that, Eobert ; but caravans go 
with camels, and there is a great deal of 
land beside the Desert. It is unexplored, too. 
But when I am a man I mean to go there 
and see the country. I will sail up the Nile, 
and then I will keep on and on. Oh, how I 
wish I was a man, that I could start now I" 

"It would be well, my child, first to learn 
about the climate, the people and the soil of 
a country you wish to visit. Your travels 
would prove more profitable with a little 
previous knowledge. '^ 

^^ Why, I have studied all about it, mother, 
in my Geography." 

"Perhaps, then, you can tell me how 
many varieties of the human race inhabit 
Africa?" 

"Black people, mother; — negroes. The 
slaves of Cuba and of this country came 
originally from Africa." 

" I think," said Frank, very slowly, and 
as if he had not much confidence in his own 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 13 

opinion, "that the Egyptians are not ne- 
groes. Is it so, aunt ?" 

" You are correct, Frank : they are en- 
tirely diiferent in feature, hair and com- 
plexion. But, before I tell you about the 
different races, I wish to know the extent, 
latitude and population of Africa/^ 

The little boys were not fluent in their 
replies ; neither were their young heads quite 
so well filled with knowledge as they sup- 
posed them to be. 

It was only after some study of the map 
and consulting of books that they were able 
to tell that Africa has a population of 
70,000,000, that it is five thousand miles 
from north to south and the same from east 
to west, and contains twelve millions of 
square miles. 

"Now look for the most northerly and 
most southerly point, and give me the lati- 
tude, boys.'' 

" Cape Blanco on the north, 34° 52' north 
latitude; and Cape ]!:^eedles on the south, 34° 
52' south latitude." 

"Did you say Cape Needles, mother? I 
used to say Aiguilles at school.'' 
2 



14 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^' That is merely the French for Needles, 
Eobert/' 

" Look on the map, boys, and you will see 
that Africa is separated from Europe by 
narrow straits, — they are only ten miles 
wide, — and that it joins Asia at the Isthmus 
of Suez ; while the shores of the African and 
Asiatic sides of the Eed Sea are only sixteen 
miles apart. 

^^ I wish to have you notice this fact par- 
ticularly, as it will explain others that I may 
give j^ou concerning those countries in that 
part of Africa/^ 

^^They are the Barbary States, Egypt, 
Nubia and Abyssinia,^' said Frank. 

^' Yes ; and you will find that the customs 
and manners of these people are influenced 
much by intercourse with their Arabian 
neighbours. 

^' Is Africa as well watered as our own 
continent, Eobert V^ 

^' I think not, mother, or there would not 
be such a great desert in the interior.'' 

^^The largest river is probably the Nile. 
This is twenty-five hundred miles long, and 
is formed by the union of two rivers called 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 15 

the Blue and White. The latter rises in the 
Dongai Mountains; south of Darfur. 

" Prom the junction of the two rivers to the 
mouth of the Nile is fifteen hundred miles. 
The Niger is probably the second river in 
size. 

^^ There has been much speculation as to 
the source of this river, and much suifering 
and even loss of life incurred in trying to 
ascertain its rise and where it empties. 
Two brothers, Eichard and John Lander, in 
1830, ascertained that it flowed south from 
Boussa, received the river Shany, then ex- 
panded into a large lake, and emptied by 
several arms into the Bight of Benin. Its 
course has been traced for two thousand 
miles — a considerable part of it navigable 
for steamboats — through a rich and popu- 
lous country. I will tell you more about 
this region in some future conversation.'^ 

" There are other rivers in Africa,'^ said 
Frank. 

^^ You may name them,'' said his aunt. 

" The Senegal, the Gambia and Zambese. 
Then there is Orange Eiver in South Africa." 

^^Now I will tell you, boys, about the 
different races in Africa. Instead of being 



10 

all negroes, as you supposed, there are at 
least seven different races of people in this 
quarter of the globe.'^ 

^^ Why, mother/^ said Eobert, ^^I wonder 
I never found that out before ! Don^t they 
all have fiat noses and woolly hair?^^ 

" We will see. First there is the Hotten- 
tot. His skin is a yellowish brown^ cheek- 
bones high, chin pointed^ nose flat and broad, 
eyes deep chestnut and far apart. The hair 
grows in little tufts, and when kept short 
feels and looks like a hard shoe-brush. When 
suffered to grow, it hangs on the neck in 
hard twisted tassels like fringe. The sta- 
ture of the Hottentot is very short, — only 
about four feet six inches for men and four 
feet for women. They are very rude, and 
have made but little progress in civilization. 
Do you know where they live ?^' 

" Yes^ mother, — in the southern part, near 
the Cape.'' 

^^ I^orth of the Hottentot country live the 
Kaffers. Their complexion is a deep brown, 
but very unlike the Hottentot, — hair short, 
curling and woolly, but not like that of 
the true negro. The nose is elevated, lips 
large and thick. They are tall, well de- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 17 

velopedj muscular, and have made greater 
progress in agriculture than their neigh- 
bours. 

'^ The Abyssinian race is blacky but their 
hair is long like that of an Arab. The fea- 
tures are regular^ the nose aquiline, body well 
formed and equal in stature to a European. 
They have made considerable progress in 
agriculture and the useful arts, and have a 
written language and a literature. 

"The Egyptian race have long hair, a yel- 
lowish complexion, swollen eyes, flat noses 
and thick lips. This nation were formerly 
distinguished for their attainments in sci- 
ence and their skill in the arts. They were 
among the first to invent an alphabet and 
hieroglyphic writing. 

"The Numidians are sometimes called 
Moors, Bergers and Sibbans. They have 
some Arab blood. 

" The hair is long and black, skin light 
brown, features European; but the nose is 
never aquiline, and not very prominent. 

" They are superior to the negro race, but 
very much below the Egyptians, and have 
never made any great progress in civili- 
zation. 

2* 



18 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

" The Nubian race live on the confines of 
Egypt, and include the people of Sennaar, 
the Gallas, and some other tribes. They 
have a long, oval countenance, a curved nose, 
rather thick lips, hut not protruding like 
the negro, hair strongly frizzled but never 
woolly, a finely-formed person and bronzed 
complexion. 

^^ Some of the tribes are brave and war- 
like and have made some progress in agri- 
culture, settling in villages and cultivating 
the soil/' 

^^ Now, mother, you have mentioned six 
varieties; and I know I can describe the 
seventh/' 

^' You may do so, Eobert/' 

"Black skin, black eyes, black woolly 
hair, low forehead, cheek-bones standing out, 
nose big and flat; lips very thick, the upper 
one largest, the knees turned in and toes 
turned out/' 

"Why, aunt, that is the way old Peter 
looks !" said Frank. 

" Yes ; and it is a correct description ; for 
Peter is of unmixed negro blood, and has 
every feature as described." 

" I guess you would have thought so too, 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 19 

Frank, if you had seen him eat the goose/^ 
said Eobert. 

'^ Not eat a whole goose himself ?^^ 

^' He didnH leave much of it. He lived at 
the minister's; and one day, having had 
some money given him, he asked permission 
to buy a goose with it. It was granted him, 
and, at his request, Betty, his cousin, the 
cook, roasted it for him. He would not 
even give her a piece, but sat down all alone 
to devour it. But this greediness and selfish- 
ness had its reward ; for he was very sick 
afterwards, aad did not want anyone to say 
^ goose' to him for a long time.'^ 

" Frank, do you know whether there is 
more than one variety of the negro V^ 

^^ I supposed, aunt, they all looked alike, 
though I know they come from different 
parts of Africa.^' 

'^ There is a great difference in them. 
There are the Mandingoes, who have a mix- 
ture of yellow in their complexions, and are 
superior to the Papels, who are very low and 
degraded. Then there are the Jolifs, the 
Feloups and Ashantees, all differing from 
each other. 

"The Ashantees live in Upper Guinea, 



2® THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

near the coast, and resemble the Minas, 
who inhabit the neighbouring region. They 
are more intelligent, better developed than 
most of the tribes ; and some of them can 
read and write Arabic. 

" There is a great difference between them 
and the Mundjolas, who inhabit the unex- 
plored regions south of the equator. These 
are called man-eaters by the other natives, 
and are miserably ignorant and degraded. 

^^ The Kaffers live in the eastern part of 
Africa. They have high noses, and are bet- 
ter-looking and more vigorous than their 
southern neighbours, the Hottentots. They 
use no salt in their food, drink owlj water, but 
are very fond of tobacco. Their complexion 
is an iron gray, and their hair frizzled but 
not very woolly. 

" There are many other tribes; and most 
of them are distinguished by marks which 
they make upon their faces and breasts. Some 
make a scar in the middle of the forehead ; 
some file each front tooth to a jDoint ; some 
tattoo little stars on the cheeks and forehead. 
The African traders know the different tribes 
by these peculiar marks.'' 

^^I should think, mother, their personal 



CENTRAL AFRICA. ^1 

beauty was not so great that they would 
wish to disfigure it in that way/^ 

" Why, my dear child, they fancy it adds 
to their charms, and are no doubt as much 
pleased with them as a modern fashionable 
lady is with ear and finger rings/' 

•^ Or a Chinese lady with her little feet/' 
said Frank. 

^'It is bedtime now, boys. To-morrow 
evening we will spread the map out before 
us, and I will show you the routes of some 
of the principal travellers, and what regions 
are still unexplored.'' 



22 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 



CHAPTEE II. , 

SKETCHES OF AFRICAN TRAVELLERS. 

'^ Here is the map, mother/^ said Eobert, 
as he spread it out upon the table, " and 
here is a chair for you. I hope we shall 
have no visitors. I do not think such talk- 
ing as we usualty have when people come 
in, is half so pleasant as our conversation 
with you.'' 

^^You must not be selfish, my boy. Peo- 
ple talk as they think ; and if they have 
but little knowledge in their heads they will 
not have much on their tongues." 

^^I am glad, aunt, then,'' said Frank, 
" that you are willing to put a little know- 
ledge into our heads; and I hope to be able 
to use it some day. But see ! the snow is 
still falling, and the path is almost blocked 
up. I guess we'll have no visitors here to- 
night." 

^^ That's good ! And you won't catch me 
shovelling it out till I have heard all about 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 23 

Mungo Park and Bruce, and some other tra- 
vellers that mother knows about. She has 
as many stories laid up in her head as she 
has nice things in her store-closet.'^ 

'' Which do you like best, Eobert V^ said 
his mother. 

'^ The stories, when I am not hungry, 
mother ; but I like real true stories. I want 
to hear about people that have lived and 
acted, that have travelled or fought, in- 
vented something new, or made some great 
discoveries/^ 

" Very well, Eobert : I will try to please 
you ; but I assure jow. that the search after 
truth is rather difficult. For instance, on 
your school map you will find a long range 
of mountains in Central Africa marked 
'Mountains of the Moon.^ Now, there are 
no such mountains there. They were all a 
fiction of somebody's brain.'' 

^' And about as real as the man in the 
moon, I suppose," said Frank. 

^^Yes; but we must excuse geographers 
for trying to fill up some of the blanks in 
the map of Africa, there is so much un- 
known to us." 

'^Why, aunt, almost all the central part, 



24 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

from the Great Desert to the Tropic of Capri- 
corn, is either a desert or blank/^ 

" In 1850 it was computed that one-fiftieth 
part of Africa was now pretty well explored. 
Since then we have the accounts of some of 
the most enterprising travellers the world 
has ever known. And, after giving you a 
sketch of some of the earlier discoveries, I 
will give you those of the latest, at least 
down to 1858.'' 

^^Well, I should not have supposed the 
ancients were very industrious, if, with all 
the discoveries of the moderns, so great a 
part of the continent is still unknown.'' 

^^You must remember, boys, that the 
ancients did not understand navigating the 
seas as we do in our time. They had neither 
the mariner's- compass, nor charts, nor the 
knowledge of steam. They kept near shore, 
and seldom ventured into unknown regions. 

'^ The PhcBnicians were the most ancient 
commercial nation ; and tradition says that 
six hundred years before Christ, under 
Nechos, king= of Egypt, they sailed through 
the Eed Sea, around Africa, and back 
through the Straits of Gibraltar. This is 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 25 

somewhat doubtful, and was a wonderful 
feat in those days, if indeed it was accom- 
plished. 

^^Many years afterwards, in the time of 
Herodotus, there were discoveries made in 
Africa. But l^apoleon's expedition to Egypt 
aroused a new interest in modern Euroj)e to 
explore the unknown regions of Africa ; and 
since then a great deal of knowledge has 
been acquired of the countries before un- 
known to us.^^ 

^' But, mother, I would like to know the 
routes of some of these travellers, and trace 
them on the map.'^ 

^^ Be patient, Eobert, and I will come to it 
soon. Until 1768, the source of the ISTile was 
unknown, and great interest was felt in its 
discovery. In June of that year, the famous 
traveller, Bruce, set out on his expedition. 
Now look on the map. He started from 
Cairo ; he navigated the Nile to Syene, then 
crossed the Desert to the Eed Sea, and, after 
spending some time in Arabia Felix, reached 
Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, in Febru- 
ary, 1770. On November 14, 1770, he 
discovered the long-wished-for spot, — the 
little spring from which the mighty river 
3 



26 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

flows. I will give you a more particular 
description of the place when we come to 
Abyssinia/^ 

^^Now, aunt; I guess they turned their 
attention to the Niger : did they not?'^ 

*^Yes; and it is well for the world that 
the human mind is never satisfied with 
knowledge. It is always grasping for more. 
Africa is now rapidly opening to the view of 
the civilized world; and Christianity will 
follow in the wake of discovery till the 
Eose of Sharon shall bloom in the deserts of 
Ethiopia.'' 

"Mother, was Mungo Park an English- 
man?'' 

^^jSTo : he was a Scotchman, the son of a 
farmer. He went to Africa in 1795, and, 
after studying the Mandingo language, 
commenced his researches. He made two 
voyages of discovery, — the one in 1795 and 
the other in 1805. He went first to the Gam- 
bia Eiver. He had thirty-six Europeans 
with him ; but by the time he had built 
his boats and was ready for his work of 
exploration, four only were living. 

" This little remnant was finally attacked 
by the natives and slain. It was a sad ter- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 27 

mination of a journey from which the world 
hoped much. 

^' He learned, however, that the Niger 
rises in the western part of Africa; but 
where it terminated was left in doubt for 
many years. Many expeditions were sent 
out, and one of them, under Denham and 
Clapperton, discovered Lake Tschad. Look 
at your map, boys, and find it.^' 

^^Here it is, aunt,'' said Frank, — ^^ nearly 
in the centre of Africa, in the northern part 
of Soudan, longitude 15^ E. The river Shany 
runs into if 

^^ In 1830, two brothers by the name of 
Lander determined to trace this river to its 
mouth, and, after encountering much hard- 
ship and many dangers^ they found its out- 
let to be the Bight of Benin. 

^^ Thus by the different travellers this river 
has been traced for two thousand miles.'' 

"Can they have steamboats there, mo- 
ther ?" 

^^ Yes, — for a considerable distance ; and 
the British Government fitted up two steam- 
boats to trade with the natives who live 
upon the river." 

*^ I wonder what the savages thought when 



28 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

they saw the steamers puffing away there in 
the middle of Africa?'^ 

^^I guess they were more frightened than 
if they had heard a terrible lion^s roar. But, 
aunt, what did they find to buy ?'' 

^^ They brought home some ivory, but not 
enough to pay the expenses of the expe- 
dition; and out of forty who went, only 
eleven returned. The rest fell victims to 
the severe climate.^' 

^' I think the country was not made for 
white men, mother. The natives seem. fitted 
to endure their dry, hot air.'' 

^^It would seem so; for other expeditions 
have failed in the same way. 

^^ I could tell you of some explorers sent by 
the French Government who have made 
great additions to our geographical know- 
ledge. There is one, by the name of Cail- 
lard, who has published valuable maps and 
charts of many parts of Eastern Africa. But 
I wish particularly to direct your attention 
to one of the latest travellers, whose object 
was not simply to explore the country, but 
to carry the gospel to the poor African.'' 

^' May we keep the map open, mother? 
and will you tell us where he went?" 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 29 

^^Yes: that is my wish; but lirst I will 
tell you about the boyhood of the mission- 
ary. 

^^ In a little manufacturing- village of Scot- 
land there lived, not many years ago, a poor 
man, who was a retail dealer in tea. He 
had a number of children, and found it hard 
to support them all : so David at the age of 
ten years was put into the factory, that his 
wages might add to the scanty earnings of 
his father.^^ 

^'Why, aunt^ then he could not go to 
school. How could he learn any thing ?^^ 

^^ Well^ hoys, what do you think he bought 
with the first money he earned V' 

'^ I guess he got some new clothes,^^ said 
Eobert. 

^' No : you are w^rong.'^ 

^^ Perhaps he gave it to his mother to buy 
food,'' said Frank. 

^^ Wrong again. No, boys : he bought a 
Latin Grammar, and, after working hard all 
daj^, went to an evening school to recite it. 
In this way he got his education, and by 
sixteen had gone through Horace and Virgil. 
He went to the factory at six in the morning, 
and, with the exception of a short interval 
3* 



30 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

for .his breakfast and dinner, worked till 
eight o'clock at night. Sometimes he car- 
ried his books with him, and while at work 
would study too; sometimes he sat up till 
twelve at night to learn the lesson for the 
next day. When at work, he would lay his 
book on the spinning-jenny; and then, as he 
passed and repassed, he would catch a few 
sentences and repeat them over.^* 

'^ Why, mother, I couldn't learn a lesson 
so. It makes my head whirl round and 
round just to go into our factory.'' 

" He says it was a good discipline for him. 
Now in his older years he can read and write 
amid the roar of children and the dancing 
and songs of savages. His leisure days were 
spent in collecting flowers and geological 
specimens, — shells from the lime-quarries, 
and flowers from all the hills and valleys in 
the neighbourhood. At nineteen he became 
a cotton-spinner in the factory and had good 
wages; but he spent them in buying books 
and attending lectures in Glasgow. A short 
time before this, he became convinced that 
he was a sinner by nature, and felt the 
necessity of a personal interest in the atone- 
ment made by Christ for a world lying in 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 31 

sin. A great inward change was wrought 
in him by the Spirit of God, and from that 
time he became desirous to preach the gospel 
to the heathen ; and China seemed to him 
to present a wide field of labour. He went 
to work harder than ever to fit himself for 
his mission, — attended medical lectures and 
studied divinity. He finally placed himself 
under the direction of the London Mission- 
ary Society, and they sent him to Africa. 
There seems to me a special providence in 
this; for not one man in a multitude could 
accomplish what he has done in that coun- 
try. Still, with great modesty, he says in 
his book, ^I will speak not so much of what 
has been done, as of what remains to be 
done before the gospel can be said to be 
preached to all nations.^ ^' 

^^ Where did he go first, mother?^' 
"He embarked for Cape Town in 1840, 
and went directly into the Bechuana coun- 
try, and, after spending some time in ex- 
ploring the country, established a mission in 
Mabotza, (lat. 25° 14' S., long. 26° 30' E.) 
You will find it on the map. 

" An English hunter named Gordon Gum- 
ming, in one of his hunting-excursions, 



32 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

visited the missionary. He says the valley 
in which the missionary is situated is one of 
the most beautiful spots in Africa. It is 
bounded by rocky mountains, which are 
beautifully wooded to their summits, and in 
parts of the valley are groves of forest-trees, 
and in others the earth is covered with 
luxuriant grass. A tribe of the Bechuanas, 
called Bakatlas, live here. The women cul- 
tivate the ground, raise corn, pumpkins and 
melons. 

^^ The people are lively, good-humoured, 
have pleasing features and good eyes and 
teeth. Their hair is short and woolly, and 
their complexion of a light copper. 

'^ Their huts are round, and thatched with 
long grass, the floors and walls plastered 
with clay and cow-dung. 

^^ Every hut is surrounded with a hedge 
of ^wait-a-bit thorns,' to keep out the lions 
and other wild animals.^' 

^^ ^ Wait-a-bit thorns !' That is a queer 
name. Can you tell us what it is, mother?'^ 

'^ It is a species of mimosa, covered with 
thorns shaped somewhat like a fish-hook; 
and if you try to pass them in a hurry you 
are sure to leave a part of your shirt or trou-:. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 38 

sers behind. The natives call them ^vyacht 
um bege' or wait-a-bit thorns/^ 

^' Wouldn't they make a nice fence for an 
orchard in this country, Eobert V^ 

^^ I guess boys would let the apples and 
melons alone after one trial/' 

^^ Gumming says that, when once pursued 
by some enraged elephants, he spurred on 
his horse and drove through such a hedge, 
taking care to place his head beneath his 
horse's neck, and thus securing his face ; but 
he would not like to be thus placed very 
often, with two or three fierce elephants only 
a spear's length behind him, and a wait-a-bit 
hedge in front." 

^^ Didn't he hunt lions, mother?" 

^^ Yes; and I will devote one evening to 
the animals in Africa. Just now, I think, 
you are tracing Dr. Livingstone. In 1849, 
he crossed the great Kalahari Desert and 
visited the mysterious Lake Ngami, which 
no European had seen. He started on the 
first day of June. This desert lies between 
the Orange Elver on the south and Lake 
Ngami on the north, between latitude 29° 
and 24°, and between longitude 24° E. and 
the Atlantic Ocean." 



34 THE LAND OP MYSTERY; OR, 

" Is this like the Sahara Desert, aunt ?'' 

'^ I think not, from Livingstone's descrip- 
tion. It is not destitute of vegetation; and 
there are many inhabitants, but no running 
vrater. It is covered with grass, and a kind 
of creeping plant which sends its roots deep 
into the soil, where they can obtain moisture 
during the long droughts. 

^^ Another plant produces tubers a foot and 
a half beneath the surface, which are as large 
as a child's head, and much valued by the 
natives. 

^^In the rainy seasons another remark- 
able plant is found, called ' the watermelon 
of the desert.' Animals and men both feast 
upon them. The elephant seems to enjoy 
them very much.^^ 

^^What kind of people live in this desert, 
aunt V 

^^ They are wandering Bushmen, and live 
mostly by hunting and w^hat few vegetables 
the women collect. They have no animals 
but dogs. They are dwarfish, looking some- 
what like baboons, and are far behind their 
neighbours the Bechuanas."' 

^^ You said animals lived in the desert. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 35 

How can they live without springs or 
streams of water V^ 

'^ There are some animals which require 
but little water. Among these are ante- 
lopes, large herds of which are found in the 
desert.^' 

"Did Livingstone find the lake at last, 
mother ?'' 

" Yes. He first struck the river Zouga.^^ 

^' Here it is, aunt. I have found it. It 
runs to the northeast.^' 

^^ They followed this river ninety-six 
miles, and then left their wagons and oxen 
and pushed on for the lake. Here they met 
a tribe who were very kind to them : they 
were a sort of African Quakers, who never 
fight. In twelve days after leaving their 
wagons they came in sight of the lake. 

'' Its length is from seventy to a hundred 
miles ; but it is too shallow to be of much 
value as a highway for vessels or steam- 
boats.'' 

" Is the water salt, or fresh, aunt ?'' 

" When full, it is fresh, but brackish when 
very low. 

" Dr. Livingstone made another journey to 
Lake Ngami in 1850, and in 1852 he tra- 



m THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

veiled in the interior and northward for a 
year and a half. 

" The termination of this journey was 
Loando/' 

'^ I know where that is^ mother. It is a 
Portuguese town on the western coast/^ 

" It was formerly a large city, but is now 
much decayed. There are 12,000 inhabit- 
ants, three good forts and many stone 
houses. The people are most of them blacks. 
After leaving Loando, our missionary tra- 
velled southward to Makololo, and then 
east to Kilimane. He endured much hard- 
ship ; but he has added much to our know- 
ledge, and awakened an interest in Africa 
which is felt throughout the world.'^ 

^^ Mother, I have been examining Lake 
Tschad to find an outlet for its waters. Is 
there none ?^' 

" 'No : the surplus waters pass off by 
evaporation, like those of the Dead Sea in 
Asia and of the Salt Lake in our own coun- 
try.- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 37 



CHAPTEE III. 

ANIMALS OF AFRICA. 

^' Yes ! there in the desert, like armies for war, 
The flocks of the ostrich are seen from afar, 
Speeding on, speeding on o er the desolate plain. 
While the fleet-mounted Arab pursueth in vain." 

It was a beautiful winter's night. The 
moon had just risen : it was nearly fall, and 
was sailing like a light boat in the blue ex- 
panse above. The earth was covered with 
snoW; and the brown branches of the trees 
were festooned with the same white drapery. 
The air was keen and bracing, but not in- 
tensely cold, — just enough so to send the 
blood more rapidly through the body of the 
cheerful walker who should come over the 
hills that surround our little village. 

The little boys Eobert and Frank had 
been spending the day with their aunt^ and 
had waited for the moon to rise, that they 
might have a pleasant walk home. Their 
road lay directly through the village, and 

4: 



38 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

past the public house, which was well 
lighted ; and the boys could see old men, 
middle aged, and even lads, sitting round 
the fire, smoking cigars and pipes, eating 
oysters and drinking cider, — some with their 
feet on tables and chairs or resting against 
the side of the house. They looked very 
merry, and peals of laughter rang out and 
were heard in the street. The boys stopped, 
and thought they should like to go in and 
hear Uncle Timothy's droll stories and warm 
their feet by that nice fire. 

^^But we promised to be at home by 
seven,'' saidEobert. 

^^I know it," replied Frank; ^-but it is 
only half-past six now. We will have time 
enough.'' 

Just then there came a shout that was 
heard all over the street: — ^^ Hallo there! 
Clear the track !" and from the top of the 
long, steep hill came a row of sleds, each 
steered by a little boy; and, as one after 
another came gliding down, it was a sight to 
make an old man's blood warm and his limbs 
feel young again. Much more would that 
effect be produced upon little fellows like 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 39 

Eobert and Frank, who each of them had 
a new sled. 

^' Come, Frank ! see what grand coasting! 
ril run home and get ^ Cruiser/ and we'll 
have two or three turns this bright night/^ 

They quickened their steps, (for their road 
lay up this very hill,) and, as they passed 
the boys, who were now drawing their sleds 
back, they heard oaths upon oaths. Indeed, 
it seemed as if the}^ could hardly open their 
lips without swearing. 

*^ If mother knew how they swore, she 
wouldn't let us come a step,'' said Eobert. 

'^ Well, we needn't tell her; and loe won't 
swear. I never mean to/' 

^^I tell you what it is, Frank : it's hard for 
a fellow to keep from doing what all the 
other boys do. Sometimes, before I know it, 
I am using their words.^' 

^' But you and I can keep together to-night; 
and we'll take care not to swear." 

^^Here we are at home. How bright 
mother's light shines ! I'll just run in and 
ask her if we can slide an hour; and then 
we'll go to the barn and get out ' Cruiser.'" 

Mrs. Lee was sitting at the table, mending 
stockings; but she had a new, bright map of 



40 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

Africa spread out before her, and some 
books beside it. Then there was a dish of 
red-cheeked apples on the table, and some 
ears of corn and a corn-popper by the fire. 
The room looked very cheerful; and just as 
the boys entered, the tall clock in the corner 
struck seven. 

'' Just in time, boys. You are very punc- 
tual.^^ 

''" Are you all alone, mother V^ 

'^ I have been ; but I was listening for the 
tramp of your little feet, and, knowing that 
I should hear it by this time, I have not felt 
lonely.^' 

The boys looked at each other, then at the 
apples and corn; and finally Eobert said, 
'^ Shall I get the boot-jack, Frank ?^' 

^^Yes, I guess so. We can slide in the 
morning. Didn^t you say, aunt, you would 
tell us about the lions and other wild ani- 
mals that abound in Africa V^ 

" Yes; and I have some stories for to-night 
which I think will interest you.^' 

In a moment the boots and caps and 
comforters were hung up in the warm 
kitchen, and the boys came in and took 
their seats at the table, forgetting the tavern 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 41 

and the skaters in thoughts of lions and 
elephants. 

'^ I was thinking this evening, boys/' said 
Mrs. Leej '^ how richly God has endowed 
Africa with the rarest products of the vege- 
table and animal w^orld. I may have told 
you before that there are five times as many 
species of quadrupeds as in Asia, and three 
times as many as in all America. 

^' The ostrich, that noble bird of the desert, 
is indigenous to Africa; and the camel, 
though found also in Asia, seems to have 
been purposely adapted by our Creator to 
the climate and wants of ISTorthern Africa. 
One distinguished hunter, who did not go far- 
ther north than Lake IN'gami, enumerates 
tw^enty-eight different species of quadrupeds 
which he hunted, not more than seven or 
eight of which are familiar to you by 
name.'' 

^' Why, mother, w^hat can they be ? I 
thought I had learned a great deal about 
animals in Natural History." 

^^I will mention some of the names: 
'Steinbok,' ^ Eland,' ^Springbok,' ^Gemsbok,' 
^Oryx,' ^Gnoo,'^Blesbok,' ^ Quagga/ ^ Harte- 
beste,' ^Wildbeest,' ^Pallah— '" 
4* 



42 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

"Oh, dear, mother, you need not go on. 
I don't know so much as I thought I did. 
But didn't he hunt the Hon ?'^ 

^^ Yes, and killed a great many. Eut his 
object was ivory; and therefore he sought 
particularly for the elephant/' 

" I always feel sorry to have an elephant 
killed, aunt : they are such noble animals, 
and often so useful. But I should like to go 
lion-hunting, I think.'' 

" I will give you an incident of a hunter's 
life in South Africa, Prank. The party had 
been busy during the day in making a kraal 
for the cattle, of thorn-trees, to protect them 
from lions. When that was finished, about 
sundown, they lighted a fire on the bank of 
the river and proceeded to get their supper. 
They were under a dense grove of shady 
trees, — the water on one side and the wagons 
on the other of their encampment. Otherwise 
they were not protected. Three of the Hot- 
tentots ate their su23per and lay down under 
their blankets by the fire, — two of them, 
Hendrick and Euyter, under one blanket. 
Wood was scarce, and their fire was small : 
moreover, the night was very dark and 
windy. After they had lain down, an ox 



CENTRAL APRICA. 43 

came out of the gate of the kraal and walked 
round it. Hendrick got up and drove him in 
agaiuj and then went back to his fireside 
and lay down. ^ Suddenly/ says Mr. Gum- 
ming, ^ the appalling roar of a bloodthirsty 
lion burst upon my ear within a fe^y yards 
of us, followed by the shrieking of the Hot- 
tentots. Again and again the roar was 
rej)eated, and John and Euyter shrieked, 
'' The lion ! The lion ?' Still, for a few mo- 
ments we thought he was only chasing one 
of the dogs round the kraal; but in an in- 
stant one of the Hottentots rushed towards 
us, speechless with terror, his eyes bursting 
from their sockets, and shrieked out, " The 
lion ! The lion ! He has got Hendrick ! He 
dragged him away from the fire beside me ! 
I struck bim with the burning brands upon 
his head, but he would not let go his hold. 
Hendrick is dead ! Oh, God, Hendrick is 
dead! Let us take fire and seek him!'' I 
ordered the dogs, which were nearly all fast, 
to be made loose, and the fire to be in- 
creased as far as could be. I then shouted 
Hendrick's name ; but all was still. 

'^ ' I told my men that Hendrick was dead, 
and that a regiment of soldiers could not 



44 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

help liim : so, hunting the dogs forward, I 
had every thing brought within the cattle- 
kraal, — when we lighted our fire and closed 
the entrance as well as we could. The Hot- 
tentots sat all night with their guns in their 
hands, fancying every moment the lion 
would spring in upon us. The horrible 
monster lay all night within forty yards of 
us^ consuming the wretched man whom he 
had taken for his prey. 

^^ ' It appeared that when the unfortunate 
Hendrick rose to drive in the ox the lion had 
watched him to the fireside, and he had 
scarcely lain down when the brute sprang 
upon him, and, grappling him with his fear- 
ful paws, kept biting him on the breast and 
shoulder, all the while feeling for his neck. 
As the lion lay upon the poor man, he faintly 
exclaimed, '^ Help me I help me ! Oh, God ! 
men ! help me V^ Then the ferocious beast 
got hold of his neck, and all was still, except 
that his comrades heard the bones of his 
neck cracking between the teeth of the lion. 
The next morning, just as the day began to 
dawn, we heard the lion dragging something 
up the river-side, under cover of the bank. 

^^^In the hollow where he had lain, we 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 45 

found one leg of the unfortunate Hendrick, 
bitten off below the knee^ the shoe still on 
his foot, and the grass and bushes stained 
with his blood. I felt utterly sick at heart/ ^' 

<^Aunt/^ said Frank, his dark eyes shin- 
ing very brightly, ^^ wouldn't I like to have 
had one shot at that cruel beast V' 

^' It is easier to talk about it than to do 
it/' said Eobert. 

^- An old hunter, who had killed many, and 
had often been alone in the depths of a forest 
at midnight and heard the roar of lions 
within twenty yards of him, and called it 
^as fine music as he ever heard,' yet says, 
^ion-hunting, under any circumstances, is a 
dangerous pursuit/ ^' 

" Are there two distinct species of lions in 
Africa, mother V^ 

"The natives say there are; but Gum- 
ming thinks that the varying color of their 
manes is the cause of this notion. The male 
lion has along, shaggy mane, which is some- 
times very dark and sometimes of a golden 
yellow. When the lion is young, the mane 
is of a yellowish color; in middle life it is 
black ; and when he has numbered many 



46 THE LAND OE MYSTERY; OR^ 

years, but is still in the full enjoyment of 
his power, it is a yellowish gray/^ 

'' Aunt, do lions roar at regular intervals V^ 

^^They are said to roar most at night ; hut 
in cloudy weather they roar frequently 
through the day. They are also most active 
during the night; and in dark, stormy 
nights they are very dangerous. Their 
tawny colour makes them invisible in the 
dark ; and they may be very near you, and 
you see nothing but their eyes, which glow 
like two balls of fire. 

^^ Moffat, a missionary in South Africa, 
relates that in one of his journeys he came 
across a gigantic tree, which had no less 
than seventeen little conical houses upon its 
branches. The natives built them here 
from fear of lions. He climbed up and 
visited the greenwood village, and ate some 
locusts in one of the houses.^' 

^^ I guess they didn^t carry on housekeep- 
ing in a very extensive way, mother.^' 

'^ Their only furniture, he says, was the 
hay upon the floor, a spear, a spoon, and a 
bow] of locusts. 

" He tells us also of a midnight halt at a 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 47 

fountain, which might have pleased you, 
Frank, as much as a visit to a menagerie, 

'^ Being hungry, and wanting a steak, he 
went at night to a fountain where the vil- 
lagers obtained their w^ater, hoping to kill 
some game. It was half moonlight, and 
rather cold. They waited for some time in 
great anxiety, but for two hours saw no- 
thing. At length they heard a loud lapping 
under the shadowy bank. ^What is it?^ 
he asked of the natives. ' Hush ! it is lions !' 
was their reply. They did keep still, and 
were thankful enough to escape so easily. 
Their next visitors were two huge buffaloes; 
then came two giraffes, one of which they 
wounded. A troop of quaggas came next; 
then a huge rhinoceros, which they mortally 
w^ounded; and then, hearing more lions, 
the}^ beat a hasty retreat through bushes, 
hyenas and jackals, resolving never to hunt 
by night at a water-pool, if they could find 
food elsewhere.^' 

^^ Did they find the game they killed next 
morning, mother, or did the lions eat it up ?'' 

^- The lions were probably not hungry ; for 
they found the rhinoceros and buffalo next 
day." 



48 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^^Aunt, you mentioned a troop of quag- 
gas : what kind of aiiimals are these V 

"The quagga somewhat resembles the 
zebra, which, you know, is like the horse in 
shape. It is social in its habits, living in 
large troops. It can be domesticated, and 
is then mild and tractable.'' 

^^Do they have a great many giraffes in 
Africa, mother?'' 

'^No; these beautiful animals are found 
there, but thinly scattered over the country. 
They prefer old forests, and sometimes can 
hardly be distinguished from the trees them- 
selves when they are not moving. It is 
said they emit a pleasant perfume, as of 
flowers, while the breath of the lion is 
extremely offensive. But our evening is 
nearly gone, boys. I think we must stop 
for to-night.^^ 

'' Oh, aunt I Oh, mother ! Please don't 
stop just now I You have not told us one 
word yet about elephants. We a'n't a bit 
sleepy. Please go on a little longer." 

'^ The elephant abounds in the forests of 
Africa; but the largest are found near the 
equator. I need not describe an elephant to 
you, for you have seen them frequently." 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 49 

"Yes, mother; but I am never tired of 
reading about them. How much, mother, 
do you suppose an elephant weighs ?'' 

"They sometimes weigh six thousand 
pounds; and it is said some have been 
known to weigh nine thousand. 

^^ They consume a great deal of food ; and, 
when domesticated and worked, one requires 
a hundred pounds of food a day and forty 
gallons of water, but he will do the work of 
six horses. When in the forest, they break 
down all the trees that come in their way, 
and feed upon the young branches. They 
like vegetables, and especially the bulbous 
roots which grow beneath the surface of 
the earth in various parts of Africa.^' 

"Aunt, how large are the elephant's 
tusks?'' 

" They are from six to eight feet long, 
and weigh from sixty to a hundred pounds.'^ 

"And their ivory is very valuable, I sup- 
pose V 

"Yes: if uninjured and in large pieces, 
containing from fifty to a hundred pounds, 
it will bring in England over a dollar per 
pound; but Mr. Moffat said, that when 
on a journey w^ith some natives they killed 
5 



50 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

an elephant, he could not see it done with- 
out a great deal of regret, even though he 
knew the spoils were his/^ 

^^ Are they difficult to hunt ?^' 

^^Yes, for they frequent the most lonely 
parts of the forest, and a wild elephant has 
a great dislike of man. Gumming says 
that a child can put a hundred of them to 
flight by passing a quarter of a mile to the 
windward of them. Their sense of smell is 
very acute, as is their taste, they being fond 
of the perfume of flowers and of delicate 
sweets for the palate. There is no nobler- 
looking animal than the wild elephant in his 
native forests, where he steps bold and free, 
not turning aside for the tree in his path, 
but breaking it down with his strong trunk 
as a child would play with straws. When 
attacked, they are fierce beyond description, 
and will sometimes receive eight, or even 
twelve, balls without seeming to yield at all. 
I suppose you know they are good for food, 
an elephant-steak being considered very nice, 
and the trunk and feet great delicacies.'^ 

'^ Mother, is the African elephant like the 
Asiatic ?^' 

^^Not exactly. The ear of the Asiatic is 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 51 

not more than one-tliird as large as the 
African. The latter is sometimes between 
four and five feet long, and fonr feet wide. 
A native will sometimes protect himself 
from rain under the shelter of an elephant's 
ear.^' 

^^ That is a novel umbrella, surely, aunt V 
'We can judge of the strength of the 
elephant by the weight of its tusks. They 
weigh, from one hundred and twenty pounds 
to three hundred, and even more. Just think 
of a neck that can support such an enormous 
weight V^ 



52 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 



CHAPTEE IV. 

BIRDS AND PLANTS OF AFRICA. 

"iSTow for a description of the ostrich^ if 
you please, mother. I suppose we must 
call it a bird, though it don't fly much.^^ 

^^Now I think of it/' said Mrs. Lee, "I 
will correct a wrong impression which has 
been given us by some naturalists. This 
bird has been accused of leaving its eggs in 
the sand to be hatched by the heat of the 
sun. Later and more authentic travellers 
.tell us that both parents take turns and 
relieve each other during incubation. Their 
nest is a hollow about seven feet in diameter, 
generally among bushes ; and if a person dis- 
covers the nest and does not immediately 
remove the eggs, he will find them all 
broken on his return.'' 

^^What, aunt, if he has not touched 
them ?" 

^^So it is said, — their instinct teaching. 



y CENTRAL AFRICA. 53 

them in some way that the nest has been 
discovered. 

^^ The African women make great use of 
the ostrich egg-shells for dishes, and even 
bottles, making a small hole in one end and 
corking them up with grass.'' 

^^ Mother, is it true that the Eushmen hunt 
ostriches by dressing themselves in the skin 
of these birds and then shooting them?'' 

^^ Yes : Mr. Moifat, the missionary, saw 
them do it. Their arrows are made of a 
slender reed with a sharp bone head. Some- 
times they kill a snake and extract the 
poison from its fangs, and sometimes they 
obtain it from a poisonous plant." 

^^ And that is the way, mother, the fine 
ladies obtain their beautiful ostrich-feathers, 
is it ? I shall think of it every time I see- 
them waving in their fine silk and velvet 
hats." 

'^ I think I have read, aunt, that the ostrich 
is a very raj)id runner." 

^^Yes: Livingstone in one case succeeded 
in reckoning his paces with a stop-watch. 
They were thirty strides of twelve feet each 
in ten seconds. That would make a speed of 
twenty-six miles an hour, — quite equal to 
5* 



54 THE 

that of our fastest railroad-traius. Yery few 
Englishmen succeed in killing them, and 
Bushmen sometimes crawl for miles on their 
stomachs in stalking them. The male bird 
is of a glossy blacky with the exception of 
the white feathers which are so desirable. 
The hen-ostrich is of a dark brownish-gray 
color. These birds are dwellers in the hot, 
sandy deserts; and if jou will examine the 
light, flossy feathers, j^ou will see how well 
adapted they are to shade the body from the 
heat of the sun without increasing the 
warmth of it.^^ 

^^Are they good to eat, mother?'^ 

^^ Yes : travellers say that the flesh re- 
sembles that of the turkey, but is rather 
coarse. The eggs are not much relished by 
•any but natives.^' 

^^Are there any other strange birds in 
Africa ?'' 

'' There are some. The white ibis is found 
in Egypt, and was worshipped by the ancient 
inhabitants. Mr. Livingstone counted thirty 
species of birds on Zambesi Eiver, — among 
them large pelicans, three hundred in a flock. 
There were also geese and ducks there. On 
one occasion he killed seventeen ducks and 



CENTRAL xVFRICA. 55 

one goose with two shots. He mentions 
also seeing at this place a species of plover, 
that is said to be very sociable with the 
crocodile of the Nile and acts as its tooth- 
picker/' 

"And gets food enough from its ngly 
mouth to feed itself. I suppose. How many 
ways there are for animals to support them- 
selves r^ 

•^ Yes : God teaches them to provide their 
food in due season. 

^'Some of the Africans are very fond of 
singing-birds^ and catch the wild canaries 
which abound, and cage them for their song. 

^^ Dr. Livingstone found one day a bird's 
nest made of green leaves neatly sewed to- 
gether with threads of the spider's web, the 
ends of the threads thickened like a knot, 
after passing through the little punctures 
which had been made in the leaf There is 
another singular bird in Africa, called the 
^ honey guide,' which will lead travellers to 
the hives of the wild bees in the forests. 
You know honey and wax are important 
articles of trade in Africa.^' 

" Yes, aunt, — slaves, bees-wax and ivory, 
as the geography says. But please tell us 



56 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

something about this wild honey and the 
bees that make it/' 

^^ Bees do not exactly come under the same 
class as birds. Prank; but I have no objec- 
tion to telling yon a little about them. 
They abound in all parts of Africa; and pots 
of honey, and jars of an intoxicating drink 
made from honey, are common presents 
from a chief to the traveller. The natives 
make artificial bee-hives of the bark of a 
tree. They cut the bark round in two 
places about five feet apart, and then make 
a slit lengthwise, and thus remove the bark 
carefully, and it retains the same shape as 
when on the tree. Then they sew up the 
slit with wooden pins, and make a top and 
bottom to their hive, of coiled grass rope, one 
of which has a hole in the centre for the 
bees to enter. These hives are placed on 
high trees in different parts of the forest; 
and in this way all the w^ax that comes from 
Benguela and Loando is collected. 

^^Not less gorgeous than the birds are the 
flowers of this favoured land. One writer 
says, ^The green banks and little hollows 
along the margins of the streams are adorned 
with innumerable species of brilliant plants 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 57 

and flowering shrubs in wild profusion. 
Among these the most beautiful is the Cape 
heath/ '' 

'^ What^ aunt ! like that beautiful one of 
Cousin Gratia^s, which we all admired so 
much and which you tried so hard to raise 
from a slip V^ 

" Yes ; and he speaks particularly of two 
species which were so beautiful that he 
stopped in the heat of the chase, spell-bound 
by their beauty, to admire them. Others 
with downy stems and waxen flowers of 
every hue, lilac, and various shades of pink, 
red, crimson, blooming in the rich hollows of 
the glens or along the arid cliffs and fissures 
of the overhanging rocks.'' 

^^Oh, mother! that would please you bet- 
ter than elephants and lions.'' 

"• In addition to these, he passed hosts of 
geraniums, which filled the air with their 
sweet perfume, while their blossoms were 
as beautiful in their rich hues as the lovely 
heaths. Then there were the tall, graceful 
ixias, nodding lilies, showy marigolds, the 
wild jessamine, the shaggy lichens, the 
orange-coloured mistletoe, and innumerable 



58 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

creeping vines^ covering the rocks and the old 
forest-trees with their luxuriant drapery/^ 

" It must be a beautiful land, with its birds 
and flowers !'' 

^^ There is no climate in the world more 
beautiful than some parts of Africa. I 
have just given you the statement of one 
who looked upon it only as a naturalist and 
a hunter. See what the pious missionary 
says, when upon the banks of the Quango, in 
Angola: — ^ I have often thought, in travelling 
through this land, that it presents pictures 
of beauty which angels might enjoy. How 
often have I beheld, in still mornings, scenes 
the very essence of beauty, and all bathed 
in a quiet air of delicious warmth ! Green, 
grassy meadows, the cattle feeding, the goats 
browsing, the kids skipping, the groups of 
herdboys with miniature bows and arrows 
and spears, the women wending their way 
to the river with watering-pots poised jaun- 
tily on their heads, men sewing under the 
shady banians, and old gray-headed fathers 
sitting on the ground with staff in hand, lis- 
tening to the morning gossip, while others 
carry branches of trees to repair the 
hedges, — all this flooded by the bright Afri- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 59 

can sunshine^ and the birds singing among 
the branches before the heat of the day has 
become intense, — form pictures which can 
never be forgotten/ ^ And yet/ he adds, ' they 
are all sunk in the grossest superstition. 
Death to them is cheerless enough; for they 
look upon it as delivering them into the 
power of angry disembodied spirits, and 
their death-wails are heart-rending/ ^^ 

^^ Mother, you remind me of the mission- 
ary hymn, — 

* Where every prospect pleases 
And only man is vile/ " 

"I must not forget to tell you a little 
about the beautiful trees of Africa. We have 
already spoken of the palm. There is also 
the baobab-tree, which almost every travel- 
ler in Southern and Central Africa views 
with astonishment. Dr. Livingstone men- 
tions one that consisted of six branches 
united in one. At three feet from the 
ground it was eighty-five feet in circum- 
ference. It is common to find it hollow ; and 
he saw one in which twenty or thirty men 
could lie and sleep as in a hut. It is very 
tenacious of life, — so much so that it is 
almost impossible to kill it. The natives 



60 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

make a strong thread of the bark, after 
pounding it; but it soon throws out a new 
bark, j^ot even fire can destroy it from 
without; and when it is cut down it continues 
to grow in length, so that the natives have 
found that it is easier to let it grow upwards, 
as it takes up less room than when lying on 
the ground." 

'' Why, mother, do you believe it ?" 
'' Yes ; for we have so much testimony to 
prove it. Its vitality is accounted for by 
the missionary in this way:— ^ The tree in- 
creases by layers both inside and out, very 
much like a bulb, — an onion, for instance ; 
and each of these layers possesses vitality of 
itself, and will grow if its neighbour is re- 
moved.^ He calls it a gigantic bulb gone to 
seed.'' 

^^I wish we could have one in our front 
yard, mother ! How nice in a hot day !'' 

'^ I fancy it would not like our climate. 
Nature reserves her most wonderful pro- 
ductions for the Torrid Zone. The banian 
too is found here, the branches of which 
bend over and take root, making a grove 
around the parent tree. Every thing is on 
a magnificent scale in this land. How dif- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 61 

ferent from the miniature firs and tiny 
mosses of the Arctic Zone. Perhaps you re- 
member how delighted Dr. Kane was, on 
returning from one of his Arctic voyages 
and stopping for a day or two at a port in 
Greenland, when he was presented with a 
little salad, hardly larger than a cup from 
a doirs tea-set, and raised, too, with great 
difficulty- I thought of this when I read of 
the African missionary sitting in the shade 
of this immense baobab-tree, eighty-five feet 
round, or riding through grass which came 
above the head of his ox/' 

^^What a wonderful world it is, aunt! I 
am never tired of learning about its produc- 
tions, its mountains and rivers, its animals 
and plants. I wish I could live a hundred 
years and keep learning all the time.'' 

^^My dear boy, you will be learning, I 
trust, a hundred years hence. Blessed be 
God for giving us minds that can live after 
the decay of the body T' 



THE LAND OF MYSTERY: OR, 



CHAPTBE V. 

INSECTS AND SERPENTS. 

^^I WAS thinking to-day/^ said Mrs. Lee, 
as the boys came to her for the evening's 
conversation the day following their talk 
about the plants and birds of Africa, ^^that 
in the warm and dry parts of Africa, where 
man is so indolent, we should find two in- 
sects that are always spoken of as emblems 
of industry/' 

^^I guess you mean the honey-bee for one, 
aunt/' 

^* Yes: bees abound in Africa, and, as I said 
last evening, they furnish the natives with a 
great quantity of calico and beads/' 

^^I think, mother, I have read that ants 
are found there in great numbers and of large 
size/' 

"Yes: I have some interesting facts about 
them for you. But can you tell me who 
directs us to the ant to learn wisdom?" 

"I know. The Bible says, ^Go to the ant, 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 63 

thou sluggard: consider her ways and be 
wise/ It is in Proverbs/' 

^^Are those in Africa like our little ants 
that we like so well to watch V 

" They belong to the same family, but are 
much larger. They live in a community, or 
republic, composed of three ranks, — the la- 
bourers, who do the work, the soldiers, who 
fight, and the gentry, from which they 
select their kings and queens, or presidents 
as we would say. They have about one 
hundred labourers to one soldier. The 
soldiers are merely the labourers that have 
undergone a change, and now have two 
sharp jaws, like little awls, for piercing or 
wounding. 

^^The gentry are more perfectly formed, 
and furnished with four large wings. Their 
nests are very large and look like hills. 
Sometimes they are ten or twelve feet high 
and of a conical shape, looking very much 
like negro-huts. The clay cover or roof is 
very hard and strong. The inside is divided 
into different apartments; the royal chamber 
seems to be the most important; and around 
these are arranged many others of different 
sizes and figures, but all arched and open 



64 



THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 




into each other. Then they have store- 
chambers, which are always filled with food. 
This consists of the gnm and hardened juices 
of plants thrown together in small masses. 
]S"ear these are the nurseries, where the eggs 
are hatched. Over all these inner rooms is 
a fiat roof, and above this a conical roof; so 
that they are effectually protected from rain. 
These insects can endure dry, hot weather 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 65 

better than. most other species of animal life, 
— as I will prove to you soon. 

"When their houses are attacked and 
injured; a soldier comes out and makes 
a survey, then returns to give the alarm, 
and out rush great numbers of fighters; 
and if a man is near, they attack him and 
draw as much blood as is equal to their own 
weight. After the soldiers have made their 
attack, the labourers come out to repair the 
injury.^' 

^^ How large are these ants, mother?'' 

^^ There are two kinds, the red and white. 
The latter are half an inch long, and as thick 
as a crow-quill. Livingstone says that when 
swarming they appear like snow-flakes float- 
ing about in the air; and dogs, cats, hawks 
and other birds devour them eagerly. So 
do also the Africans. The missionary once 
gave a chief some bread and apricots. As 
he seemed to like them very much, he asked 
him if he had any thing so good in his own 
country. The reply was, ^Ah! did you ever 
taste white ants?' The missionary said he 
had not. ^ Well, if you had, you could have 
desired nothing better.' 

"He found their hills sometimes thirty feet 

6* 



66 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

high, and so broad that trees grew on 
them. 

^'In a time of great drought, when the 
river ran dry and the fishes died, and when 
for two years not ten inches of water fell, 
and animals and men suffered much, the 
ants were as busy and active as ever. In- 
deed, the extreme heat only increased their, 
activity. The black ants sometimes kill 
the white, by injecting a fluid that produces 
an effect somewhat like chloroform., throwing 
them into a stupor. When in this state, they 
drag them off to their own hills for food.^^ 

"Aunt, one must travel, or read travels, to 
learn what a variety of food is provided for 
man. I wonder what else they eat in Africa ? 
Ants and elephants, mice and honey^ locusts 
and hippoj)otamuses '^ 

"And tortoises, Frank. Some of our mis- 
sionaries pronounce the land-tortoise, with 
its unlaid eggs, very nice food. The tortoises, 
Dr. Livingstone says, are very fond of salt, 
and their trails may be seen leading to the 
salt-fountains. If it can^t get salt, it will eat 
wood-ashes. The natives think very much of 
these animals: they make boxes of the shells 
of the young tortoises, fill them with sweet- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 67 

smelling roots and hang them about their 
necks/^ 

^^ An African lady's cologne-bottle! Quite 
as sensible, mother, as our scent-bags and 
perfume-bottles/^ 

'' The shells of the older and larger tor- 
toises are used for dishes. This animal is 
slow in its movements, and has little cun- 
ning to escape from its pursuers; but its 
colour — yellow and dark brown — is so much 
like the grass and brushwood in which it 
conceals itself that it is not easily detected. 
It is very long-lived; but it has one enemy, — 
the crow. Mr. Moffat states that one day 
when he w^as reclining on a rock, waiting 
for his shirt to dry, which he had just 
washed, (the missionaries have many such 
labours to perform,) he saw a crow rise from 
the earth with something dangling from his 
talons. Presently he let it fall to the earth, 
then descended, seized it again, and, risiiig 
to a greater height, dropped it. He was 
about to repeat this, when one of the natives 
who was with Mr. Moffat seized the mangled 
animal.^' 

'' I suppose, aunt, the shell was so hard 
the crow could not get at the meat; and so 



68 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

he took this method to break the poor 
tortoise's back. He was cunning and 
cruel/' 

^^Mother, are there not poisonous serpents 
in Africa ?'' 

"Yes: there are a great many kinds of 
snakes and serpents, a few of which are 
poisonous. The best description which I 
can find is in Livingstone, from w^hich I 
will give an extract : — 

^^ One was killed at his missionary station, 
Kolobeng, which was very venomous. It 
was eight feet three inches long, and in 
colour nearly black. ' This is so venomous 
that, when a number of dogs attack it, the 
first bitten dies almost instantly, the second 
in about five minutes, the third in an hour, 
while the fourth may live several hours. 

" ' This one continued to distil clear poison 
from its fangs for some hours after its head 
was cut off. This was probably that which 
is called the spitting serpent, and is sup- 
posed to be able to eject its poison into the 
eyes when the wind favours its progress. 
They all require water, and go long dis- 
tances in search of it.' He mentions another 
which makes a cry just like a kid, supposed 



CENTRAL AFRICA, W 

by the natives to allure travellers to itself 
by this bleating. 

^^They have also the ^ cobra/ This is a 
most venomous serpent, of the viper species. 
When disturbed, it spreads out and flattens 
the neck, and raises the front part of its body, 
so as almost to look as if it stood erect. Its 
bite is very poisoDous. 

^' There is another kind, called the green 
tree-climber, which climbes trees in search 
of birds and eggs. Its fangs are so made that 
it can hold firmly any animal or bird which, 
it seizes. The ^j)ython' is a harmless species 
of serpent, and is eaten by the natives.'^ 

^^ AYhat, mother ! shall we add serpents to 
our bill of fare V 

" I believe so. These j)ythons are some- 
times fifteen or twenty feet long. One 
which he shot measured eleven feet ten 
inches in length and was as thick as a 
man's leg. The Bushmen like the flesh very 
much, and on one occasion carried away each 
man his portion like a log of wood over his 
shoulders.'' 

'^ They should be welcome to it if I were 
the hunter, aunt." 

^^ I must not forget to tell you about a 



70 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

large fly, whose presence seems to me a 
serious drawback to the civilization of some 
portions of Africa. Its bite is a deadly- 
poison to oxen and horses. They seldom 
recover after being once bitten, the poison 
entering the circulation and changing the 
blood. It is called the Hsetse.^^' 

^^Are not almost all our common insects, 
as flies, bees, spiders, &c., much larger in the 
torrid zone than with us ?^^ 

^^ Yes; and that reminds me that I wished 
.to tell you about the spiders of Africa. 
They have a beautiful yellow spotted spider, 
whose webs are about a yard in diameter : 
the lines of its web are suspended from one 
tree to another, and are as thick as coarse 
thread. Another kind forms so great a col- 
lection of webs that the trunk of a tree sur- 
rounded by them is hidden from sight. It 
is round in shape, spotted, brown in colour, 
and the body half an inch in diameter: the 
spread of its legs is an inch and a half He 
found also a large, black, hairy spider, an 
inch and a quarter long and three-quarters 
of an inch broad, which had something like 
fangs on the end of its front claws, from 
which it ejected poison. I will give you 



Central ^frfra. 




The Spider. 



p. 70. 





iiliilUlll il11i\?MiJll:i l!fe 



Millstones. 



p. So. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 71 

in his own words a description of the red 
spider: — ^It runs about with great velocity, 
in and out, behind and around every object, 
searching for what it may devour, and, from 
its size and activity, excites the horror of 
every beholder. I never knew it to do any 
harm except frightening the nervous. It is 
said to make a hinged covering for its nest. 
You see a door, about the size of a quarter 
of a dollar, lying beside a deep hole just 
large enough to admit the insect. The in- 
side of the door, lying upwards, is of a 
pure, white, silky substance, like paper; the 
outside coated with earth just like that -in 
which the hole is dug. If you try to lift it, 
it is fastened by a hinge on one side; and 
when turned over it fits the hole exactly 
and it is impossible to detect the nest. Of 
course, you never see the nest when the eggs 
are there.' '' 



72 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 



CHAPTEE VI. 

" Come on to the desert. What silence is there, 
While the breath of the simoom is hot in the air I 
To the desert, — where never a green blade grew, 
Where never its shadow a broad tree threw, 
Where sands rise up, and in columns are wheeled 
By the winds of the desert, like hosts in the field. 

Mrs. Lee repeated these lines as the boys 
seated themselves beside her for their even- 
ing entertainment. 

^^Ah, mother, but there are some trees 
and some green spots in the desert, I sup- 
pose?^' said Eobert. 

^^Yes; but there are immense dreary 
wastes, too, where the moving sand, when 
whirled by the wind, has sometimes buried 
whole caravans. Other parts are covered 
with small, sharp stones. Then, again, there 
are ravines and rocks, and stony hills 
crowned with low bushes.^' 

"And oases, or green spots, too, aunt. 
How delightful it must be to come to them, 
after a long march through the dreary 
waste !'^ 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 73 

^* The Great Desert, as it is called, extends 
nearly across Africa, being nearly 3000 miles 
from east to west. But the desert as usually 
referred to is the part lying west of 
Fezzan.^^ 

^^I suppose, mother, there are regular 
caravan-routes through the desert, and wells 
at regular intervals.''^ 

^'Yes, — formerly it was about seven days^ 
journey from well to well. They are more 
frequent now; and the French, who now 
govern Algiers, have lately been boring 
Artesian wells in the part of the desert south 
of their possessions. These, you know, are 
very deep, — some of them two hundred and 
seventy-five feet. There was great rejoicing 
among the tribes in the vicinity when they 
saw the water gushing forth. They came in 
crowds, plunged themselves in the waves, 
and bathed their children also. The Arabic 
names which they gave them mean, when 
translated, nhe well of peace,^ the ^well of 
bliss,' the ^well of gratitude.' The}' have 
heretofore wandered from, place to place as 
the desert-springs dried up; now they will 
probably settle and cultivate the land in the 
vicinity of these wells. 
7 



74 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^^ I conld not but ask myself, when this 
account was first published in a French 
newspaper, May it not be an emblem of that 
gospel which we hope will soon be offered 
to these desert tribes ?'' 

^^Aunt, do not travellers sometimes accom- 
pany caravans through the desert ?^^ 

^^Yes; and this evening I am going to 
give you a little sketch of Dr. Earth's jour- 
ney. He is the latest traveller who has 
given us an account of such a journey. Turn 
to your map, and you will see that he has 
been through the desert twice, — once from 
Tunis to Tripoli, and through the populous 
district of Air to the city of Kano, which is 
about half-way from the city of Saccatoo and 
Lake Tsad. At another time he went 
almost in a straight line from Tripoli to the 
lake. From the lake he went westward 
to the ancient city of Timbuctoo, stopping 
a while at Sohoto.^' 

^^Aunt, you speak of these as large cities. 
Are there really places of business and trade 
— great cities — so near the centre of Africa ?'' 

'^ I think you will be surprised when I 
come to tell you about these places ; but be- 
fore I get to that I wish to make you under- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 75 

stand that crossing the desert is not such a 
romantic journey as you imagine/' 

'' I don't know about that, aunt. Give me 
a good camel, plenty of water-skins well 
filled, a quantity of dates and bread and 
coffee, and I think I should like it right 
well.'' 

^^My poor child, your bright fancy would 
soon leave you w^hen you saw the reality. 
You can go through this desert only under 
the protection of a large caravan or with a 
slave-coffle. And in either case, if you are 
a Christian, you must beware. The tribes 
are almost all Mohammedans, who despise 
Christians, and think it a merit to stone 
and abuse them. Some of these wandering 
Arabs are merely robbers, who live upon 
the spoils of travellers. Then you must be- 
ware of deserting your companions for any 
length of time; or you may be left to die of 
hunger and thirst. Even Barth, experienced 
traveller as he was, forgot this caution once 
on his second journey. The Arabs had told 
him of a lone rocky mountain, called The 
Enchanted Castle, which lay a little out of 
their route. Tliey called it a dwelling of 
demons; but he, thinking it might be an 



76 

ancient place of worship, — for there are such 
scattered throughout the desert, — determined 
to visit it. 

^^ I ought to tell you that there are some 
very interesting remains of ancient temples 
and Eoman works scattered in different 
parts of the great desert, — some even of 
Christian worship, which show that, two or 
three centuries after Christ, the gospel had 
been carried into those regions/' 

"Mother, how was it driven out?'^ 

"The Mohammedans came with fire and 
sword; and now the people of all Northern 
Africa are followers of the false prophet. 
Now Mohammedanism and Paganism are 
side by side and are waging war with each 
other. 

"The Mohammedan has such a contempt 
for Christianity that it is almost impossible 
for our missionaries to do much good in the 
countries governed by these haughty fol- 
lowers of the prophet. 

"I will tell you, before long, how they 
treated Mungo Park, when he was trying 
to trace the course of the Niger.'' 

"Now, aunt, you were telling us about 
Dr. Earth losing his way." 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 77 

^^Yes, I remember. Look on your map. 
Between Murzuk and Ghat stood this En- 
chanted Castle; and our traveller, anxious to 
see it; left his companions and started alone 
with some biscuit and dates and a skin of 
water. He started in the morning and 
pushed his way through the sand-hills till 
he came to a bare, desolate plain covered 
with black pebbles; then to a little green spot 
where a pair of antelopes had found a home ; 
then, again, to a long stretch of pebbly ground, 
which wearied him very much. All this 
time the mountain did not seem much 
nearer: he had not correctly calculated the 
distance. At last, ascending a slope which 
he thought would convey him to the sum- 
mit, he came to a deep precipice which 
separated him from the mountain. He was 
wearied and disappointed. The sun was very 
hot, and no shade near. With great difficulty 
he ascended the ravine and climbed up the 
other side ; but when he reached the crest of 
the mountain there were no inscriptions 
and sculptures, and little to reward his 
labour. He took a little water from his skin 
and lay down to rest. The day was very 

hot; and before night his water was all gone. 

7* 



78 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OB, 

At last he lost his direction^ became puzzled 
and discouraged. He fired his pistols; but, 
though the sound seemed to roll through the 
desert, there came no answer. 'Not a drop 
of water could be found; and, after wander- 
ing about for a long time, he climbed a soli- 
tary old leafless tree, to pass the night in its 
branches. He was too weak to collect wood 
for a fire; and he spent the weary hours in 
great anxiety for the dawn. In the morning 
he fired his pistols again and again; but, 
though the sound reverberated along the 
rocks and rolled through the valley, no an- 
swer came. The sun rose; the heat became 
intense, and his thirst was so great that he 
sucked a little of his own blood; but at last he 
became delirious^ and fell down in a sort of 
swoon, from which he did not recover till the 
sun went down. As he lay upon the ground, 
he heard the cry of a camel; and, he says, ^it 
was the most delightful music I ever heard 
in my life.' Soon one of the caravan, who 
had been in search of him, came up and 
sprinkled his head with water and gave him 
some to drink. He soon recovered and joined 
his companions.^' 

'^ That was bad enough, mother, but better 



Central Africa. 




Arab Tent. 



p. 79. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 79 

than being devoured by lions or robbed by 
Arabs/^ 

^' They were in danger of the latter two 
or three times. One rather formidable expe- 
dition came against them, and they had to 
give presents and make a compromise with 
the freebooters. These last protested that 
thc}^ only came against them because they 
were Christians; and the rest of the caravan, 
who were Mohammedans, expected, as a mat- 
ter of course, that Mr. Eichardson and Dr. 
Earth, who were travelling together, would 
at once renounce their religion, and laughed 
in their faces because they were so absurd 
as not to do it.^' 

^'They must have a strange idea of Chris- 
tians, aunt.'^ 

^' They soon learned that the firmness of 
the travellers was not so easily moved. The 
wild Arabs collected in great numbers about 
the tent of the Christians and vociferated 
loudly that they should be put to death. 

^'ITe says, ^ We were sitting silently in the 
tent, with the inspiring consciousness of 
going to our fate in a manner worthy alike 
of our religion and of the nation in whose 
name we were travelling among these bar- 



80 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

barous tribes, when one of the caravan, a 
kind-hearted man, rushed into the tent with 
the words, ^^You are not to die/^^ 

"They, however, had to pay a great price 
for their release. A day or two after this, 
strange to say, they w^ere almost drowned 
by a fall of rain. They were in a valley a 
half a mile wide, which in twenty-four hours 
was turned into a stream powerful enough 
to carry away their heaviest things, not 
even excepting the camels.^' 

'' That is the last trouble I should expect 
in the desert, mother.^^ 

'^ This was in the province of Air, north 
of Bornu.'' 

^^I think I should like it as a change from 
sand-storms, aunt.^^ 

^^ Yes; and so did they; and, though them- 
selves and baggage were very wet, the cli- 
mate was such that they received no injurj^ 
In a few days every thing around them 
looked fresh and green; the monkeys came 
down to drink water in the little hollows, 
the trees swarmed with ring-doves, hoopoes 
and other birds, and the trees put forth 
little fresh leaves.^' 

"This was an oasis, then.^^ 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 81 

^^ Yes, I suppose so, — though it is quite a 
province, with numerous viHages. Agades 
is the principal place, and is a very ancient 
town : it was founded in 1460, and was the 
seat of a great trade. No kind of money is 
current in the market there; but millet, a 
species of grain, is used instead. 

^^A little beyond Agades our party met 
five lions; but when they saw men approach- 
ing, they soon made their escape. They 
met many caravans going north ; and some 
overtook them. These last were many of 
them salt-caravans. Salt is very scarce in 
many parts of Africa and forms a great 
article of commerce. Almost any thing can 
be bought with it, and to say that 'a man 
eats salt with his food' is the same as to say 
that he is rich. The salt is made up into 
large loaves, and put in bags made of the leaf 
of the dowm palm. As they travelled south- 
ward, the wells were more frequent, and j)as- 
ture-fields and detached farms began to ap- 
pear. At one well the trough was formed of a 
tortoise-shell more than two feet in length. 

^' These animals are found there of a large 
size. At the little village Tagelel, which 
you will see on the map, they were able 



80 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

to separate from the caravan, and could now 
go alone if they wished. They were now 
just entering Soudan, and here they must 
get their money ready for use. Do you 
know what it is ?'' 

^^Why, mother, don't they use gold and 
silver V' 

^^1^0 : there are very few places in Africa 
where coin is used. The money of Soudan 
is the cowry-shells. In the countries north 
of the desert, shells are strung together by 
fifties; in Soudan they are put up in sacks 
made of rushes.'^ 

" Now, aunt, are we at Kano ?'' 

^^ We will imagine ourselves there; and it 
will perhaps astonish you to learn that here, 
in the heart of Africa, is a city with thirty 
thousand inhabitants, and that in some sea- 
sons of the year, when there is the most 
trade, the population amounts to sixty thou- 
sand.^^ 

^^Do tell us about this city, aunt, and 
especially what they trade in.'^ 

^' They manufacture a great deal of cloth 
here, and dye it themselves. Indigo is pro- 
duced here, with which they dye the cloth. 
Blue is the favourite color. They also raise 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 83 

their own cotton. They send annually three 
hundred camel-loads of cloth to Timbuctoo^ 
besides a great deal to Bornu, Mirzuk, and 
even to Tripoli. Some of this cloth is very 
handsome, being woven in plaids and figures. 
They make also a great many sandals, which 
are sent all over North Africa. 

" The natives in the country round collect 
a great many loads of the kola-nut, which 
the people there use as much as we do cof- 
fee : these also form a great article of export. 
They send away twenty thousand loads of 
soda every year. They also export tanned 
hides and sheep-skins dyed red : the colour 
is obtained from a species of sugar cane 
which grows in Central Africa. Slaves, of 
course, form an important part of their 
trade, five or six thousand being sent away 
every year.^' 

"I suppose the slave-trade extends all 
over Africa.^' 

"Yes: almost all their large tovv^ns are 
engaged in it.^' 

" I think, aunt, the Kano people must be 
very industrious; but I would like to know 
what are their imports, because when Eobert 
and I go we intend to trade with the peoj^le.^' 



84 THE LAND OF MYSTEBY; OR, 

^^ First on the list is salt. Dr. Earth tra- 
velled with a caravan that had three thou- 
sand camel-loads of salt with them.'^ 

" Oh, but, mother, we could not carry salt 
so far. Is there nothing else they would like V' 

'' Yes; calicoes, silks, beads, looking-glasses, 
needles, razors, sugar, paper, sword-blades, 
all sorts of spices, and the metals.'^ 

'^ Ah, Eobert, that is quite a list : I think 
w^hen we go we will be supplied.^' 

"You will be behind the times, boys. 
Already are the markets of these large towns 
filling with American goods. But as yet no 
missionary has gone to this large place. The 
Mohammedans will hardly permit a Chris- 
tian to remain there.^' 

"I suppose, mother, they have no rail- 
roads or steamboats of their own.'' 

"ISTo: their trade is carried on by means 
of camels, mules and oxen. I must quote 
Earth's description of the town. It is a lit- 
tle world in itself Here, a row of shops 
filled with foreign and native produce, the 
buyers and sellers of every variety, com- 
plexion and dress, all trying to cheat each 
other; there, a large shed full of half-naked, 
half-starved slaves, arranged in rows like 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 85 

cattle, anxiously looking at the buyers to see 
into whose hands they will fall. In another 
part; a rich govern or, dressed in silk, mounted 
upon a spirited and gayly-caparisoned horse 
and followed by a host of idle slaves; there, 
a poor blind man groping his way along, 
fearful lest he should be trodden upon ; here, 
a yard neatly fenced with mats of reed, a 
clean, snug-looking cottage, the clay walls 
nicely polished, a shutter of reeds placed 
against the door to forbid intrusion, and fine 
shade-trees in front^ the matron preparing 
the meal, or spinning cotton, and urging the 
female slaves to pound the corn; earthen- 
ware, pots and wooden bowls arranged in 
order and cleanly washed. At a little dis- 
tance, a caravan arriving with kola-nuts, 
another departing with soda, or camels led 
in by their drivers loaded with the rich 
merchandise of foreign countries. "" 

'^ We boys would like to stay a while there, 
mother, if it were not so difiicult a journey. 
But is there no better way to Central Africa 
than to cross the desert?'' 

^^A very important question, my child, 
and one which the civilized would do well to 
investigate. Dr. Earth went south from the 
8 



86 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR; 

lake, and crossed a branch of the Quorra or 
Niger. A steamboat could navigate the 
Niger to the mouth of this river; and boats 
of large size can go up this branch (the 
Benuive) as far certainly as Yola. Dr. Earth 
thinks that the Niger and its branches will 
before long be a great highway for the 
nations to enter the heart of Africa. He 
travelled extensively south of these into the 
Musqu country, where the people were 
pagans. Once he went with a Mohammedan 
sheikh, who with his followers was on a great 
slave-hunt. Slavery exists in all this region, 
— the more powerful tribes subduing the 
weaker.^' 

^^I wish you would tell us about this hunt, 
mother.^' 

^^ I will do so on the next evening. In the 
mean time, keep in mind that we have tra- 
velled southward through the desert and 
crossed a branch of the Niger; that we are 
now in the region of Lake Tsad, about which 
I would like to tell you; and then we will 
see how an African chief hunts slaves. After 
that, I wish to take you westward to the city 
of Sohoto, and from there to the far-famed 
Timbuctoo.^^ 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 87 

^^Aunt, I wish you would talk till ten 
o'clock. I should never get tired, because 
every thing is so new to me/^ 

^^ ^ Early to bed/ my child, is a good rule 
for little boys. I am glad you are interested 
in Africa; and I hope, if you live to be old 
men, you will see the poor tribes of the 
desert, and the industrious people of Negro- 
land, blessed with the light of the gospel.^' 



88 



CHAPTEE VII. 

TIMBUCTOO — WESTERN AFRICA. 

^^ Mother/' said Eobert^ ^^you promised 
us some account of the aucient city of Tim- 
buctoo. Now, what is the reason that we 
know so little about it ?'^ 

"In the first place, it is so situated as to 
be very difficult of access to any but Moham- 
medans. Even Dr. Earth, who in all his other 
African travels rather prided himself on not 
concealing his religion, was obliged to go in 
disguise from Kano to this city. Aside from 
this, the place is in the midst of burning 
and moving sands and on the verge of a 
morass. Then, again, the population varies. 
At some seasons, when large caravans arrive 
from the north, there is an air of business 
and animation in the city that will not be 
perceived at another time. Some writers 
estimate the population at ten thousand; 
others at twenty-three thousand. Eichardson 
(one of the latest) estimates it at the latter.^^ 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 89 

^^ Why, mother, I thought Timbuctoo was 
on the l^iger/' 

^^It is on the northern flats of the ISTiger, 
half a day's distance in summer, and three 
hours in winter. The difference is owing to 
the decrease of water in summer. The land 
in the vicinity is very barren and desolate, — 
so much so that little can be raised; and a 
great part of their provisions is brought from 
Jenne, a city on the Niger, three hundred 
miles from Timbuctoo. There is no water 
in the city except w^hat is brought by slaves 
from pits a quarter of a mile from the town 
proper.'^ 

^^ Why, aunt, I shouldn't like to live there 
at all r 

'^ 1^0, 1 think not ) and it is said that most 
of those who go there for purposes of trade 
leave as soon as they acquire wealth.^' 

" I shouldn't suppose there would be much 
trade there, mother.^' 

^^ There is considerable; for Timbuctoo is 
a station for caravans to rest, and a depot 
for their merchandise. 

" There is no salt in Soudan ; and you may 
well imagine how readily this article would 
sell. Three hundred and fifty miles north 
8* 



90 

there are salt-mines. The salt is made into 
cakes, which are ornamented by the slaves, 
and tied with cords made of grass and then 
packed on the backs of camels for transpor- 
tation. The caravans bring also dates, fire- 
arms, powder, European cloths, tobacco, 
glass and paper.^^ 

^' But what do they get in exchange, if 
the country is so barren they cannot raise 
fruit and grain, nor cotton to manufacture V^ 

^^They have ostrich-feathers, ivory, gold- 
dust and gums; but their great trading- 
staple is slaves.'^ 

" Where do these slaves go, aunt ?" 

^^ The Arabs buy them. Eichardson says 
that little slave children, not more than five 
years of age, walk sometimes one hundred 
and thirty days over the desert and other 
districts before they reach Northern Africa. 
An African chief said to Mr. Eichardson, 
^ The Arabs who come here will have nothing 
but slaves. What are we to do ? God has 
given to your nation great wealth : why 
not send merchants to trade with us V 

^^I have already told you how useful the 
camel is in this region, and how many are 
sometimes collected in one caravan. Eich- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 



91 



ardRon speaks of seeing two thousand to- 
gether at one time. They are often tied 
together by strings run through their 
noses. Senna is another article of trade. 
This is packed in palm-leaves; and the na- 
tives wonder what other nations do with so 
much of it.'^ 

^^I do not wonder, mother, if they were 
ever dosed with it themselves. But I was 
wondering what they found to build houses 
with in that sandy, barren region. ^^ 

'^ Those that can afford it build of brick 
dried in the sun; while the negroes — of whom 
there are a great many — have little circular 
huts of straw. They are very degraded and 
wretched. Are you not almost willing by 
this time to leave the desert V^ 

'^ It does seem rather dreary, mother; but 
it is sad to leave them and know that it is 
almost impossible for Christianity to enter.^^ 

^^ We can conceive of a way in which it 
might be introduced. They like trade, and 
will in time extend their intercourse with 
civilized nations. When steamers shall 
plough the N'iger, artesian wells and roads 
be made in the desert, the Bible and the mis- 
sionary will soon be seen there. You under- 



92 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

stand^ I believe^ that Sahara is not one great, 
level, sandy plain, but that there are oases^ 
where there are people of different races, and 
many towns and villages, besides tribes that 
live in tents and wander from place to place. 
Well, boys, in all these desert cities there is 
not one prison V' 

^^ Why, aunt, what do they do with their 
thieves and murderers and forgers, &c. ?" , 

^^ They are free from many of the vices 
peculiar to great cities in civilized countries. 
Where there are no bank-bills, there will be 
no counterfeiters ; where trade is carried on 
principally by barter, there are no protested 
notes and few fraudulent debtors; and in 
their mode of life there is less temptation to 
extravagance. The children of the desert 
are in some respects superior to the inhabit- 
ants of more enlightened countries. That 
their wants are few you may judge from the 
fact that Mr. Eichardson gave the ladies of 
the desert some pins, but they did not know 
how to use them, and were vety much 
amused when he pinned the dresses of two to- 
gether. 

^^ But we will leave the desert now, boys, 
and take a sudden leap southward towards 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 93 

the equator. It is a part of Africa of which 
I have not before spoken ; but I hold in my 
hand a letter to you from a missionary, 
whose station is on an island in the Gaboon 
Eiver, almost on the equator.^^ 

" A real letter from one who has lived 
there ?'' 

^' Yes. I wrote to him how much interest 
you felt in Africa, and he has kindly re- 
sponded by giving you more definite infor- 
mation than we could gain from any other 
person. But first you may examine the 
map of the country and find the island of 
Nengenenge, which is Mr. Bushneirs station. 
It is called the Gaboon Mission, — taking its 
name from the river. 

^^ This river rises in a range of highlands, 
about as high as the Katskill Mountains, one 
hundred miles from the coast. It has many 
tributaries or sources, and runs nearly a 
westerly course, and empties into the ocean 
a few miles north of the equator. 

^' At its mouth it is eight miles wide, and 
averages that width thirty miles upward, 
when it divides into two principal branches, 
which are from half a mile to a mile and a 
half in width. There are three tribes in- 



94 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

habiting the banks of the river and its tribu- 
taries and the surrounding country. First, 
the Mepongmes; second, the Shekanies; 
third, the Bakeles; and fourth, the Pang- 
wes. The last have recently come down 
from the unexplored highlands of the inte- 
rior. 

^^ All these tribes are influenced in a mea- 
sure by this mission. There are three prin- 
cipal stations, — Bamka, among the Mepong- 
mes, Olandebenk, among the Bakeles, on a 
northern tributary thirty-five miles from the 
ocean, and Nengenenge, an island at the 
juncture of the two principal sources of the 
Gaboon, about eighty miles from the ocean, 
and in full view of the interior highlands. 
The towns and villages are small, but nu- 
merous, situated near the river and its 
tributaries. The women cultivate the soil 
sufficiently for the sustenance of the people, 
while the men engage in trading (for which 
they have a passion) and in hunting, fish- 
ing and war. Several hundred children 
have been educated in the mission schools, 
some of whom are engaged as assistants in 
the mission; others are in the emj)loy of 
foreigners, acting as clerks, interpreters and 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 95 

tradesmen on board vessels and at trading- 
factories on shore. 

'' Nengenenge, the residence of Mr. Bush- 
nell; is a small island, not more than a mile 
and a half in circuit, and, with the excep- 
tion of one small patch, is covered with 
a thick jungle of rank vegetation. The 
iSTkama Eiver passes on the north side, the 
Bahwe meeting its waters above and below 
the island. Mr. Bushnell has sketched the 
mission-premises, — so that you can see how 
a missionary's African home looks. 

"'The view is taken a little below the 
station, near the middle of the K'kama. 
The mission-house is about two or three 
rods from the bank, slightly elevated above 
the water. All the houses are made of 
bamboo. The walls and partitions are 
formed by inserting upright sticks about two 
feet into the ground, the distance between 
them being one foot. The bamboos are 
then tied to these sticks horizontally with a 
kind of rattan or vine. The roofs are co- 
vered with thatch made of the bamboo-leaf 
and fastened down hj poles passing over the 
ridge of the roof. There are no windows ; 
but we have board shutters, which are open 



96 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

during the day and closed at night. The 
house has a piazza in front; about six feet 
wide; the roof extending over it is sup- 
ported by posts. 

^'' The building on the right, back of the 
mission-house, is the school-house ; and the 
one on the left is our chapel. A little to the 
left of the chapel is seen the end of the 
native town, with native canoes at the land- 
ing. Directly in front of the chapel is an 
orange-tree. On the beach, between the 
house and chapel, there is a sacred devil- 
tree, and in the cavities about its roots are 
a number of human heads. The other four 
trees are palms. 

'^ ^ The tide rises and falls in the river 
about eight feet; but the sketch represents 
the scene at high tide. The boat on the 
right represents a missionary returning from 
a preaching-tour with four native oarsmen. 
Within a circuit of ten miles there are thirty 
towns or more, where we occasionally 
preach. Within two miles there are seven 
towns where we preach every Sabbath. 
The people of these towns are Shekanies, 
Bakeles, and Pangwes. The latter are can- 
nibals. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 97 

^^^The accompaiiyiDg sketch might look 
better if there were people walking about, — 
as they are from morning to night, often in 
crowds. They come to sell food, or to visit 
the missionary and receive instructions, or 
more commonly to listen to the music of Mrs. 
BushnelTs melodeon. But she prefers to 
send the representation just as it is. 

^^SSeveral of the missionaries have died in 
this mission; but they do not feel like de- 
serting it while there seems to be such an 
opening to introduce the gospel to the 
tribes of the interior.'^' 

^^ We shall attend with great interest/' 
said Robert, ^^to hear how the mission pros- 
pers.'^ 

^^Yes; and throughout Africa, aunt/' said 
Frank. ^* It seems to me that God is doing 
a great deal there through some of their mis- 
sionaries and explorers." 

^^None of God's promises ever failed, my 
children ; and they w^ill be fulfilled concerning 
the poor tribes of this long-enslaved land.'' 



98 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 



CHAPTBE VIII. 

CENTRAL AFRICA. 

"Well, boys, I am thinking that Africa is 
engrossing more of my time this winter than 
my knitting and sewing/^ said Mrs. Lee. ^^ It 
would be a pity that j^ou should go barefoot 
or stockingless, like the savages themselves, 
because we are so much engaged in learning 
about them ; but, indeed, I find my knitting- 
work gains but little while we are consulting 
maps and Gazetteers. ^^ 

'' IsTo matter about the stockings, mother,^' 
said Robert. '' I never should think whether 
I had any on or not when you are talking 
with us.^^ 

Little Frank looked very thoughtful for a 
moment, and then a pleasant smile bright- 
ened his face. "Til tell j'ou, aunt: I know 
tlie stitch now^, and, w^ith a little practice, 
could knit as fast as a girl. Now, if you will 
talk with us evenings this winter, I wall pro- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 99 

raise to knit one pair of stockings^ if Eobert 
will do tlie same/^ 

"I certainly will not be outdone by my 
younger cousin/^ said Eobert, ^' and will have 
my stockings ready by the time he produces 
a pair of his own knitting/' 

•^Very well, boys: with that help I shall 
feel as if I could spend the time with you. 
I think we were in the vicinity of Lake 
Tsad.^' 

^^YeS; aunt; but you were going to tell 
us first about a great native slave-hunt. '^ 

" Oh, yes : I will tell you that first. The 
chief of Bornu, with some of his principal 
officers and an army of thirteen thousand, 
a great many of them mounted on horses 
and camels, invaded the pagan province of 
Musqu for the purpose of capturing cattle 
and slaves. The sheikh thought he needed 
more, and took this way of supplying him- 
self The Mohammedans are continually 
making inroads upon their negro neighbours 
in this way. 

" The army was so large that in many in- 
stances the inhabitants of a village became 
aware of its approach and deserted their 
homes, fieeing for refuge to the hills and 



100 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

thickets. On the first fight the sheikh took 
over ^ve hundred slaves ; but in doing so 
they slaughtered in cold blood one hundred 
and seventy-five men who were defending 
their wives and children. At another time 
they came to a village where the inhabitants 
were very busy in their fields. The land 
was carefully manured, and their clay huts 
were comfortable and pleasant. They had 
granaries which were carefully covered with 
straw roofs; and broad, well-trodden paths, 
with hedge fences on each side, wound 
through their fields. They had regular 
sepulchres, too, for their dead, which were 
regularly guarded; but when the inhabitants 
saw the clouds of dust raised by the coming 
army, they fled, leaving every thing behind 
them. 

"A great many females and children were 
taken, and then the huts w^ere burned and 
every thing laid waste, their grain-fields 
trampled or burned, and the slaughtered 
bodies of those who resisted were mino-led 
with the ruins. 

^^ The army were very much disappointed 
at one time to find a whole village deserted; 
and four natives had taken up their position 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 101 

in a deep water-course which was connected 
with a large river, in order to watch the 
army and give notice of their retreat. The 
angry vizier ordered an attack upon them. 
These poor men had not only to sustain 
themselves in the water with their feet, but 
at the same time jump up, throw their 
spears, and parry the attacks of their ene- 
mies. They fought desperately, and, over- 
powered by numbers, three of them fell; but 
one seemed invulnerable, and escaped. Every 
few days they would partition the slaves 
among the different divisions of the army; 
and nhis proceeding,' says Earth, ^was 
accompanied with the most heart-rending 
scenes : infants were mercilessly torn from 
their mothers, never to see them again, and 
children separated from their companions.' 

" It was just after harvest; and the march 
of the army could be traced by the ruin of 
all in their course. 

^^The miseries of these slave-hunts should 
not be estimated alone by the number of 
slaves torn from their homes and the full- 
grown men slaughtered, but also by the 
famine and distress caused by the burnino- 
of their homes and their granaries. It was 



102 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

a beautiful countiy and very fertile; and Dr. 
Earth asked the chief why he did not let 
the natives cultivate their lands in peace 
and then pay tribute. ^No/ the chief said, 
nhat would not do; for these pagans loved 
indej)endence and liberty above every thing 
else, and it was only by these violent means 
he could crush them ; and this was the rea- 
son why he burned all their granaries, that 
he might subdue them, by famine : he was 
sorry that the rivers were so full offish, as 
that would prevent many of them from 
dying of hunger T ^' 

'' Why, mother, how can they be so cruel '/" 

^^This chief was a Mohammedan; and such 
treatment, he thought, was well deserved by 
all who were not followers of the prophet.'^ 

"But is there no way for Christians to go 
there and carry the gospel?'^ 

'•Yes, I hope so. Now that it is known 
that the Benuive Eiver can be navigated 
into the very heart of this country, we hope 
that other nations w^ill open a trade in cot- 
ton, indigo, vegetable butter, ivory, ground- 
nuts, wax, hides, &c., and thus prevent this 
trade in slaves. It will be better policy 
then to encourage the natives to cultivate 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 103 

the soil than to destroy their labor and 
sell the poor creatures. The whole country 
is described as very delightful, well culti- 
vated and densely inhabited. The trees 
were large and spreading and the vegetation 
exceedingly rich. Tobacco, cotton and corn 
grew luxuriantly. The dwellings of the 
natives exhibited a great deal of ingenuitj^; 
and even taste. 

^^ But it is sad to dwell upon this feature 
of African life. The whole history of this 
expedition is enough to make one's blood 
run cold. They took ten thousand head of 
cattle from these poor pagans ; and, besides 
killing many hundreds of men and burning 
the deserted villages, they brought away 
between three and four thousand slaves. 

"' You will see by the map that they went 
southward almost to the equator; and Dr. 
Earth says he came to a water-course. 
'Here I stood looking southward with long- 
ing eyes. Beyond the opposite shore a 
whole forest of palm-trees were towering 
over the other vegetation and enticing me 
to enjoy their picturesque shade. 

'''What an erroneous idea had been enter- 
tained of these regions in former times! 



104 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

Instead of the massive mountain-range of 
the Moon, we had discovered only a few 
isolated summits; instead of a dry, desolate 
plateau, we had found wide and extremely 
fertile plains, intersected with broad water- 
courses/'^ 

^^ Mother, it seems to me as if a continent 
had almost been discovered in learning so 
much that is new and strange about Africa/' 

'^ On the borders of Lake Tsad the com- 
panion of Dr. Barth, Mr. Overweg, died; 
and he then turned his course westward to- 
wards Timbuctoo.'' 

^^Aunt, did he not remain a long time in 
Central Africa ?'' 

'' He w^ent twice, — each time through the 
desert. The last time he was there three 
years, and had intended, if possible, to pene- 
trate from Lake Tsad eastward to the Nile. 
This would give us information of Waday 
and Darfur, — countries of which as yet wo 
know very little. But war was raging 
among the tribes, and there seemed no way 
by which he could go in safety. He was 
arrested once on the borders of Lake Tsad, 
his goods taken from him and he confined 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 105 

in irons^ — all from the fear that he came as 
a spy from the English government. 

"He was liberated in a few days and his 
property restored. At that time he received 
despatches from England giving him per- 
mission to go westward if he desired ; and 
feeling ill, and despondent also at the loss 
of his companion, Mr. Overweg, he deter- 
mined to avail himself of this opportunity 
to learn more of Timbuctoo and the west- 
ern part of the desert.'^ 

^^Did he have guides, mother?^' 

^^ Yes : in many cases the native chiefs fur- 
nished him guides ; and he usually hired two 
servants. You are aware that he had to 
give presents to all these petty princes; and 
he carried with him a camel-load of suitable 
gifts, such as cloth, cutlery, looking-glasses, 
cloves, camphor and needles. He was at 
one time almost dependent upon needles for 
his daily food, and traded in them so much 
that he obtained the name of the ^needle 
prince.' One of the chiefs gave him a very 
fine horse, remarkable for its beauty. He 
w^ent to Timbuctoo with this, and one or 
two camels to transport his goods. 

"I intended to tell you more about Tim- 



106 THU LAND or MYSTERY; OR, 

buctoo this evening; but, as it will take so 
much time, I will leave it, and devote one 
whole evening to the subject/' 

^^Oh, aunt, you are not going to stop 
now, I hope V 

'^Please talk a little while longer, mo- 
ther/' 

^^Yes; I have some few things which I 
want to say, before we visit Timbuctoo, 
about other travellers. 

"We have now taken you from Tripoli, 
south, through the desert, made a visit to 
the great manufacturing city of Kano, taken 
a peep at Tsad, gone with the chief south- 
ward in a slave-hunt, and turned our faces 
w^estward. Now, to complete our trip, we 
will for a few minutes follow the route of 
Mungo Park, who entered Africa from the 
west coast/' 

"That is just w^hat I have been wishing, 
mother," said Eobert, "ever since you told 
us about travellers. But would it not be as 
well to begin w^ith him at Pisania, on the 
Gambia, from ivhich place he started upon 
his tour?" 

"We will do so, Eobert," said Mrs. Lee. 
"It was on the second of December, 1795, 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 107 

that he started for the interior, witli a negro 
who was born in Africa but had for many 
years been a slave in Jamaica, and a little 
bov called Demba. He had no trouble for 
a few days; but, on going farther into the 
country, where white men had never been 
seen before, he was regarded with a great 
deal of suspicion and curiosity. They 
thought his nose must be artificial, because 
it was so much higher than their own, and 
that his mother whitened his skin by wash- 
ing him in milk w^ien he was an infant ! 
When he got among the Moors, — who are 
numerous in that region, — he was treated 
very badly. They hissed at him and shout- 
ed, spit in his face, and finally, because he 
was a Christian, plundered him of almost all 
his property. The negroes were kinder; 
and the gentleness of their manners was 
quite a contrast to the rudeness and bar- 
barity of the Moors. At one place a Moor- 
ish chief kept him many weeks, because his 
wife Fatima wished to see a white man. 
Here they insulted him by oifering him a 
wild hog to eat, saying it was the food of 
Christians. 

"They threatened to cut off his hands and 



108 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR^ 

put out his eyeSj treated him with great in- 
solence, and, when he Avas sick, pulled his 
clothes from him, and would give him no 
rest, day nor night. It was only at the 
earnest intercession of Fatima that he was 
allowed to depart ; and then his companion, 
the young negro boy, was taken from him 
to be retained as a slave. This was the 
hardest trial he had to bear. He pushed on 
through troubles which would have dis- 
heartened most men, till, to his great joy, he 
came in sight of the Niger. He says, ^I 
hastened to the brink, and, having drank of 
the water, lifted up my fervent thanks in 
prayer to the Great Euler of all things for 
having thus far crowned my endeavours 
with success.' 

"This was at the city of Sego, which con- 
tained thirty thousand inhabitants. He was 
not allowed that night to enter the city, on 
account of his being white. They were 
afraid of him; and he sat under a tree all day 
without food. As the next night came on, the 
Vvdnd rose, and there were signs of a heavy 
rain. He thought he would have to climb 
a tree and spend the night on the branches ; 
but; as he was preparing to turn his hoi^e 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 109 

loose, a woman, returning from the labours 
of the field, saw him, ^ and perceiving,' he 
says, nhat I was weary and dejected, in- 
quired into my situation, which I briefly 
explained to her; whereupon, with looks of 
great compassion, she took up my saddle 
and bridle and told me to follow her. Find- 
ing that I was very hungry, she went out 
and returned in a short time with a very 
fine fish, which having cooked, she gave me 
some supper; then, pointing to the mat, 
and telling me I might sleep there without 
fear, called to the female part of the family 
to resume their task of spinning cotton, in 
which they continued to employ themselves 
the greater part of the night. They light- 
ened their labour by songs, one of which was 
composed extempore ; for I was myself the 
subject of it. It was sung by one of the 
young women, the rest joining in a sort of 
chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, 
and the words, literally translated, were 
these : — 

^' ' The winds roared, and the rains feU, 
The poor white man, faint and weary, 
Came and sat under our tree : 
He has no mother to bring him milk, 
No wife to grind his corn. 
10 



110 THE LAND OP MYSTERY: OR, 



Let us pity the white man 

No mother has he to bring him milk, 

No wife to grind his corn/ 

^^ ^I was so affected with this kindness that 
sleep fled from my eyes. In the morning I 
presented my compassionate landlady with 
two of the four brass buttons that remained 
on m}^ coat^ — all the recompense I could 
make her/'^ 

^^Did the king admit him into Sego, 
mother?'^ 

^^JSTo; but he sent him some cowry-shells, 
and a guide if he wished to go to Sansanding, 
a large town some distance eastward. He 
was afraid that he could not protect him 
from the cruelty of the Moors if he admitted 
him into the city. 

^^He went on to Sansanding, and followed 
the course of the Niger still farther ; but the 
companion with whom he started had for- 
saken him, his boy Demba was in slavery, 
his horse gave out and was left behind, and, 
finally, he was taken sick himself. Under 
these circumstances, he was obliged to re- 
turn. He had many trials on his way back. 
One night he was robbed in the woods and 



CENTRAL AFRICA. Ill 

left with hardly clothes enough to be de- 
cent. At this time .his courage almost gave 
out. He says, ^I saw myself naked and 
alone in a vast wilderness, in the depth of 
the rainy season, surrounded by savage 
animals and men still more savage. I was 
five hundred miles from the nearest Euro- 
pean settlement. I thought I must lie down 
and die, and considered my fate as certain. 
The influence of religion, however, aided 
me. I reflected that no human prudence 
could have averted my present suff^erings. 
I was indeed a stranger in a strange land ; 
yet I was still under the protecting care of 
that Providence who has condescended to 
call himself the stranger's Friend.^ At this 
moment his eye fell upon some moss, the 
flowers of which were just ripening. , The 
whole plant was not larger than the top of 
his finger ; and yet he gazed upon it with 
admiration, and asked himself if that Being 
who planted, watered and brought it to 
pei'fection could look with unconcern upon 
the sufferings of creatures formed in his 
image? Surely not. This aroused him; and 
he started up, feeling that relief was at 
hand. 



112 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^^And so it proved. At the next village 
he was very kindly treated^ and the magis- 
trate told him that he would find out the 
robbers and his property should be restored 
to him. He found less difficulty from that 
time, and returned to Europe in 1798. 

^^He entered on a second expedition to 
the Niger in 1805, better prepared for 
such a journey. But, of thirty-eight men 
who started with him from the Gambia 
Eiver, only seven reached the Niger. Park 
himself pushed on and followed the river as 
far as Boussa, where, in an affray with the 
natives who attacked his boat, he was 
drowned. 

'^ Though many expeditions were sent out, 
the source of the Niger was not discovered 
till 1830. The brothers Lander sailed from 
Boussa on the 20th of September in that 
year, and descended the river, till, to their 
astonishment and jo}^, they found themselves 
at the mouth of what had been called the river 
Nun, — proving, of course, that it was but one 
of the numerous outlets of the Niger.^^ 

'^ Oh, aunt, how delighted they must have 
been r 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 113 

^^Yes: as they expressed it, ^When we 
heard the welcome sound of the surf on the 
beach, our emotions of delight were beyond 
description/ 

^^By examining the map, you can trace 
Park's route. It is the blue line from 
Pisania to Boussa. From this place the 
Landers sailed down the ISTiger and entered 
Brass Town. An expedition has lately 
started with a steam propeller for the pur- 
j)ose of exploring both branches of the 
Niger. They will form trading-posts on the 
banks of the river at different points. They 
will also convey free blacks, who can read 
and write English^ to different parts of the 
country. 

^^ Another expedition has started to make 
a similar exploration of the Congo. Thus 
different parts of Africa are opening at the 
same time to the civilized world and pre- 
paring the way for the missionary. 

^^ To-morrow I will take you to a country 
in Africa where there are still the remnants 
of ancient civilization, and which was pro- 
bably known to the Jews in the time of 
Solomon.^' 



10* 



114 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

"It can't be Egypt, aunt, because yon are 
not going to travel there this winter/' 

"Abyssinia, I guess/' said Eobert. 

^^Yes, boys; and you may learn all you 
can about it in the mean time/' 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 115 



CHAPTEE IX. 

ABYSSINIA. 

^^What coLintiy do we talk about this 
evening, boys?'^ said Eoberfs mother^ as 
the children gathered round her one cold, 
stormj^ evening, when the wind whistled 
round the house and fought hard for ad- 
mission. But the little sitting-room was 
snug and tight, and the good hard wood 
burned all the better for the cold air of the 
winter's night. 

"It is Abyssinia, mother; and I think it 
will not be interesting, and expect to be 
veiy sleepy. I never read any thing about 
the Abyssinians that pleased me; and the 
only thing that I remember very distinctly 
is, that they cut meat from living cows to 
eat, then bind up the wound and let the 
animal go.'' 

"You may give me, first, what little infor- 
mation you can about it ; and I will then 



116 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

see if I cannot tell you some facts which 
will make you wish for more knowledge 
about this country/* 

"It is a country of Eastern Africa, and 
bounded on the east by the Eed Sea, on the 
west by Sennaar andKordofan. On the south 
there are barbarous nations, as yet hardly 
known to us. The inhabitants are a mix- 
ture of Jews, Arabians, negroes, and savage 
tribes called Galias/' 

^^Very well, Eobert/' 

^^I can tell something more, aunt,'' said 
Frank. 

'^Let us hear it,'' said his aunt. 

" They have hyenas there, and wild buf- 
faloes, and the rhinoceros; and the golden 
eagle is very common. In somebody's tra- 
vels I read, too, that swarms of bees were 
very numerous and that honey was an 
article of export. They also make an in- 
toxicating drink of honey, called hydromel, 
of which the natives are very fond." 

^^Yes; and they have another animal, 
which is often mentioned in Scripture, that 
in some seasons destroys all their crops." 

^^s it the locust, mother?" said Eobert. 

^^Yes. The missionary Gobat, of whom I 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 117 

am going to tell you by and by, says that 
when he first heard them the noise resem- 
bled the hum of many swarms of bees : soon 
it became like the sound of heavy hail. 
After a while the light of the sun was ob- 
scured, and faint clouds seemed to rise out 
of the earth. Soon this mist became so 
thick that it entirely hid the sky and neigh- 
bouring mountains ; and as they came nearer 
the sound was hke the roaring of the sea 
after a storm. 

'^The air was so dark that he could not 
see the place of the sun; and the earth was 
so covered with them that nothing else 
could be seen.'^ 

^' Don't they destroy the grain and vege- 
tables T' 

^^Yes, every green thing; and a famine 
usually follows their irruption.'^ 

^^ But the people can eat them/' said Frank. 

^^ I guess so/' said Eobert: ^' but I'd as soon 
eat a grasshopper.'' 

^^Why, Eobert, don't you remember, in 
the Bible, St. John ate locusts and wild 
honey ?" 

^^ Oh, yes: I forgot. But do they really 
eat them, mother ?" 



118 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^^Yes; a part of the inhabitants are very- 
fond of them, and, after cutting off their 
heads, pack their bodies in casks. 

^^In South Africa the natives put them 
into a hirge pot, with but little water, and 
steam them, then spread them on mats in 
the sun to dry, — when they are winnowed 
to clear them of legs and wings, and put into 
sacks. They eat them with salt, or pound 
them in a mortar as fine as meal and then 
make a pudding of them. The natives grow 
fat in a locust-season. There is another 
species, not eatable, with reddish wings, 
that are very destructive. They appear like 
a dark red stream, sometimes a mile broad. 
Nothing but a deep, rapid river arrests their 
progress ; and then only by drowning. Fire 
will not stop them; for they will leap into 
it till it is extinguished, and the remainder 
will walk over the dead. The fiercest Hons, 
or an invading army, are not so much to be 
dreaded; for there is not a green leaf or 
spire of grass left behind them. They never 
vary their course, but keep on in the di- 
rection of the wind, and when they reach 
the ocean are blown into it. This is the 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 119 

kind described in the second chapter of 
Joel. You may read it, Eobert. 

^^ One of the principal productions of 
Abyssinia is ^seff.' It grows in all parts 
of the country except the lowlands. It is 
a small grass-like plant, which grows about 
thirty inches high, and bears a small round 
seed from which the common bread of the 
country is made.^' 

^^What can you tell me about the moun- 
tains and rivers of Abyssinia, Frank V^ 

^^The principal stream is the Blue Elver, 
a branch of the Nile. I think there are 
ranges of high mountains. ^^ 

^^Yes: the traveller Harris, who resided 
some months in Abyssinia, states that Mam- 
rat, in Shoa, is three thousand feet above the 
level of the sea. Have you any more to tell 
me about the country, boys?^^ 

'' The capital is Gondar,'^ said Eobert. 

<^ Very well. Any thing more V^ 

^^The whole countrj^ is divided into king- 
doms; and wars are very frequent.^^ 

^^That is true. And what more V^ 

^' Nothing, mother/' said Eobert. ^' I guess 
we might as well leave Abyssinia and take 
a trip into the desert on camels.'^ 



120 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^^ Wait a few minutes, my child, and listen 
to me. Many, many years ago, — about three 
hundred and thirty years after Christ died, 
— a merchant of Tyre, named Merophius, 
took his two sons Frumentius and Edesius, 
and went on a trading-voyage to Abyssinia 
or Ethiopia, as it was then called. You 
know Tyre was a great commercial city in 
ancient times/^ 

*^Why, yes, aunt: Solomon traded with 
Hiram, king of Tyre, and bought materials 
for the temple. ^^ 

^^I have read somewhere that the city was 
nineteen miles round. ^' 

^^I could tell you much about this place, 
and of the fulfilment of God's prophecy in 
its destruction. A few poor fishermen now 
spread their nets where once stood this 
ancient city in all its glory. But we cannot 
stop at Tyre now. I only wish to tell you 
that at the time of which I speak there were 
some Christians there, and among the rest 
the family of Merophius. After landing 
upon the shores of Ethiopia, the father died, 
leaving his two sons strangers in a strange 
land. They were sons of a rich merchant- 
prince, you will remember, — all their lives 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 121 

accustomed to luxury ^ now they were among 
savage tribes^ avIio ill treated them and 
dragged them before the king. He took 
them into his household as slaves. You can 
fancy now these two young men torn from 
home and friends and made slaves to a 
barbarous despot. They now blessed Gad 
for the knowledge of a Saviour, and for that 
religion which enabled them to bear with 
meekness and patience the hardship of their 
lot. Instead of sitting down and murmur- 
ing, they went to work to see how well 
they could serve their master. They were 
learned as well as pious men; and they 
taught those around them, and lived such 
hol}^ lives that they won the favor of the 
king and were promoted. The king died; 
and his widow now pUxced great confidence 
in the two men who had done so well by 
her husband, and she allowed them to teach 
the people and to build churches. Fru- 
mentius became a bishop, and was called 
the first Bishop of Ethiopia. 

^^Thus this Christian merchant, who coast- 
ed along the Eed Sea for gold and mer- 
chandise, instead of getting wealth himself, 



11 



122 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

carried a richer treasure to the people of 
this dark land/' 

'^Why, mother/' said Eobert, whose eyes 
were wide open with interest, ^*I did not 
know, before, that there were any Chris- 
tians in Abyssinia. But are they Christians 
now V 

''1 am sorry to say, Eobert, that it is now 
a very corrupt and perverted Christianity; 
but still they have the Bible in a few of their 
dialects, and have some form of worship. 

^^In Gondar, their capital, they have forty- 
four churches; but their priests are generally 
ignorant, and often bad men. In the seventh 
century the Arabs tried hard to convert the 
nation to the Mohammedan faith, but were not 
successful. There are many of this faith 
in the country, — descended, probably, from 
early settlers. 

^^ There are also many Jews. How they 
came there is unknown. Among themselves 
they have a tradition that Abyssinia was 
the home of the Queen of Sheba, and their 
ancestors returned with her when she came 
from her visit to Jerusalem to hear the wis- 
dom and see the riches of Solomon. 

^^ Bruce, as I have before told you^ visited 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 123 

this country in 1769. His main object was 
to discover the true sources of the Nile. 
He had supposed, from the representations 
of travellers, that he should find them in 
the high region around Lake Dembea. He 
overcame many difficulties to reach the 
place, which was inhabited by a very bar- 
barous people. He found at last a little 
village called Geesh : it is down on some 
of the maps, a little southwest of Lake 
Dembea. Here he found a little rivulet, 
over which he stepped fifty or sixty times, 
and beyond this were the two fountains, 
which formed this rivulet. He expressed 
great delight at this discovery, and called 
these fountains the true sources of the I^ile. 
Eut we learn from good authority that a 
Jesuit had discovered these fountains some 
years before ; and it is now generally con- 
ceded that the true source of the Kile is the 
head of the Bahr el Abiad, or White Eiver, 
Avhich rises in the Donga Mountains, south 
of Darfur. 

^^ Another celebrated traveller, Mr. Salt, 
spent some time in Abyssinia, and published 
a book of travels giving us an account of 
the ancient monuments and temples of 



124 THE LAND OE MYSTERY; OR, 

ivTubia and this countr}^, which are very 
interesting to an antiquary. Later travel- 
lers have followed in his steps; and much in- 
formation may be gained from Lieutenant 
Harris's work. He was an English officer, 
and resided a while in the country. 

^^But there is one individual who went to 
Abyssinia neither for gold nor gain, nor to 
trace the source of the Mle, nor to studj^ its 
crumbling monuments. He had a higher 
and holier object than this. It w^as to dis- 
tribute a pure translation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and to show them what true religion 
is, by life as well as precept.^^ 

^^Ts he there now, mother ?'' 

'' No : he is in Jerusalem ; but I will tell 
you about him. 

^^The English Church Missionary Society 
published a good translation of the Bible in 
the Amharic language, and then obtained 
from the missionary society at Basle two 
young men to distribute the volumes in 
Abyssinia. Their names were Gobat and 
Kugler. The latter died in Abyssinia, and 
Gobat was left alone to prosecute the work. 
He staj^ed there three years, and was a very 
faithful, devoted missionary. He suffered 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 125 

from sickness and hunger, sonaetimes for 
several days having nothing but a little dry 
bread to eat. At one time, during some of 
the internal v^ars so common in the pro- 
vinces, his goods and most of his books 
were burned. He had then taken refuge in 
Debra Damot, a monastery on a high rock. 
They ascend to it by means of a rope. Two 
or three hundred monks live there ; and they 
cut their tombs in the solid rock. Gobat 
found a monk who lived in one of these 
excavations and never comes out. The 
people think he must be a very holy man.^^ 

^^ 'Not much like our Saviour/' said Prank; 
^^for he went about doing good.'' 

^^So Gobat told him, Frank, — and that if 
he did not let his light shine he could not 
be a Christian." 

^^Did Gobat die there?" asked Eobert. 

^^No: he came back to Europe, intending 
after a short rest to return to his labours in 
Abyssinia; but he went to Jerusalem, and 
has been since that time intimately con- 
nected with missionary labours in that city. 

^^He felt a deep interest in the progress 
of the missionary work in Abyssinia, and 
especially for the conversion of the Gallas^ 



126 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR. 

a savage^ warlike tribe dwelling in the 
southern part of the country/^ 

^'Are they negroes, mother ?^^ said Robert. 

^^ISTo. Harris says of them that their his- 
tory is involved in great obscurity. Their 
ancestors probably came from beyond the 
Bed Sea^ or perhaps from the south of 
Africa^ and were very warlike, overrunning a 
great part of Eastern Africa. They are tall and 
athletic, and have thick, bushy hair, wdiich 
they sometimes wear in long plaits. They 
are very savage in their appearance, and 
often — especially when going to war — 
cover themselves with a coat of grease.'^ 

^^They must shine, mother, in their hot 
suns.'' 

"Yes: one traveller wn;ites that Hhey 
sparkle under a liberal coating of their 
much-loved butter.' The females are fine 
riders, and tend the war-horses of their hus- 
bands and saddle them w^hen needed. They 
wear a short leathern petticoat embroidered 
Math white shells and confined round the 
waist by a girdle of beads ; but they use so 
mach lard and butter on their skin and gar- 
ments that it is not pleasant to be very near 
them. They have flocks and herds, a beau- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 127 

tiful climate and a rich soil; but they 
are pagans, sacrificing to serpents and wor- 
shipping stones and animals. Gobat had 
little intercourse with them, but he hoped 
on his return to carry the gospel to their 
country.* 

^'It seems to me that one great step to- 
wards the regeneration of Africa wull be 
gained by the conversion of the Gallas. 
They are accessible and can be easily 
taught. 

"But our hour is past, children, and I 



* By a report to the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
from the Bishop of Jerusalem, dated April 14, 1858, it 
appears that copies of the Holy Scriptures have been widely 
distributed throughout Abyssinia, and exclusively among 
those who were able and willing to read them. Of all the 
Abyssinians, the Jews were most eager to obtain posses- 
sion of a copy. The king, Theodoras, is a daily reader of 
tho sacred volume, and has expressed his desire that copies 
of the Scriptures should be furnished to all the priests, and 
that they should be required to read from them to the 
people every time they meet at church; and the bishop 
asks the society for one hundred copies of the sacred 
volume in the Amharic language, bound in red leather, 
as a present to the king, to be used in that way. Great 
hopes are entertained that the seed which has been sown 
with so much pains in that interesting section of the globe 
will soon spring up and produce an abundant harvest. 



128 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

will not detain you any longer, if you are 
tired/' 

^^I am not at ail tired, mother/' said 
Eobert. 

''^OY I either/' said Frank. ^^Please tell 
us more." 

^^I would like to tell you of some of the 
monuments found in the ancient city of 
Axum and in some other parts of the 
country, but it will take a great deal of 
time; and my object this winter in talking 
with you about Africa is to lead you to 
feel an interest in the books of travel that 
are now published by late explorers, and 
excite in you a desire for the regeneration 
of this interesting land from heathenism.'^ 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 129 



CHAPTEE X. 

NUBIA. 

"WhYj aunt/' said little Frank^ ^^yoii have 
been in a brown study for the last half-hour. 
I hope you do not forget that we are to sail 
up the Nile to-night and take a look at the 
Nubians.^' 

'^]Sro, Frank; and it is the thought of our 
voyage which causes this 'brown study/ as 
you call it. 

'^ There is so much to tell you^ and so much 
that interests me in this land of the palm 
and the locust, of ancient sculpture and the 
relics of the early ages of Christianity, that 
I hardly know how to select the most im- 
portant facts of its history for an evening's 
conversation/' 

'^Why, mother/' said Eobert, ^' don't you 
think it's a good plan to ^ pitch right in/ as 
the boys say at school, when you are in- 
terested in a subject ? I have been looking 



130 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

at the map of j^ubia to-day, and I find that 
the two great arras of the I^ile meet here. 
ISTow, I wish you would begin at that point, 
and tell us about these two rivers and the 
people that live on the land watered by 
them/' 

^^Why, Eobbie/' said Frank, "I thought 
we were to have a sail up the river first/' 

^'1 fear you must be disappointed, Frank,'' 
said his aunt. ^^ By looking on the map, you 
will see that the J!^ile, just after entering 
Nubia, makes a large bend. It first travels 
southwesterly, then south, again north- 
east, and then south. 

^^The ends of this curve are at Korostro 
and Abou-Hamined; and these are some- 
times called the elbows of the Nile. Now, 
between these two places the distance by 
water is six hundred miles; and part of the 
way the navigation is very difficult, on ac- 
count of the rapids." 

^^But, aunt, there is the Nubian Desert, 
directly in this bend. What shall we do ?" 

"What do you say to taking the caravan- 
route across this desert ?" 

" With camels, mother ? That would be 
nice/' 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 131 

^^But will you like travelling a week or 
more over the hot^ arid plains in an atmo- 
sphere of ninety degrees^ and perhaps en- 
counter a sand-storm that will almost blind 
you, and have an allowance of water, and 
that bitter ?'' 

^^But we will take care to fill our water- 
skinS; as the Arabs do; and we will lay 
in a store of rice and dates and coffee and 
sugar/' 

"Yery well, Eobert: when you are a man 
I hope you may have that pleasure; and, as 
we find in all God's works, there is a com- 
j)ensation even here. Taylor tells us ^that, 
however hot the days in the Nubian Desert, 
the nights are cool and refreshing;' and the 
^sunrise,' he adds, ^is beautiful beyond de- 
scription/ The lighting up of the dull sand 
into a warm golden hue, and the tintings of 
purple and violet on the distant porphyry 
hills, he never beheld without awe. The air 
was pure and refreshing, giving clearness to 
the eye, strength to the frame and exhilara- 
tion to the spirits.'' 

^^And yet, aunt, one must sometimes be 
oppressed by the silence and solitude." 

^^Yes, no doubt; and there are dangers 



132 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

too ; but it is not so dreary nor so perilous as 
has been often imagined. Yet there is a 
great rejoicing in a caravan when they catch 
the first sight of the Nile after a long march 
in the desert. We will stop a little while, 
after emerging from the desert, with the 
Berbers. Here the people are somewhat 
intelligent, and quite civil to strangers. 
Caravans from Abyssinia, Sennaar, Dar- 
fur and Kordofan stop here every year; 
and their principal city, Berba, is quite a 
mart for trade. 

^^The houses are of mud; but the streets 
are broad and clean. The next city of any 
size is Shendy ; but before going there w^e 
will turn a little out of our way and visit 
the ancient pyramids, — temples of Meroe. 

^•It is supposed that these were erected 
more than two thousand years ago. In one 
group Taylor counted sixteen pyramids. 
The tops of most are gone; but now and 
then an entire one may be found. 

^^They are made of fine red sandstone. 
No passages have as yet been found leading 
into the interior; but on the outside there 
are chambers, the walls of which are covered 
with sculpture and hieroglyphics. There 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 133 

were originally one hundred and ninety-six 
pyramids. 

^^Meroe was a city of priests. In ancient 
times these priests had great power, and, it 
is said; could even doom the king to death. 
These pyramids are, no doubt, the tombs of 
the priests. ^^ 

^^Oh, aunt, how I should like to spend 
two or three days among them T^ 

^^My child, some learned men have spent 
many weeks there; and one took pains to 
employ the natives to quarry one of them 
down to its base, but found nothing to 
reward him for his trouble. Another found 
a vaulted chamber, from which it is said he 
took a quantity of rings and other orna- 
ments. But we will go on to Shendy. This 
is an old Ethiopian town, and was formerly 
famous for its trade in gums, spices, beads, 
honey, &c. It was also a great slave-mar- 
ket; and many human beings are now 
brought there yearly from the inland tribes 
and sold.'' 

^^^N'ow, mother, we have come to Khar- 
toum. See, Frank ! it is just the place for 
a city. I would like to stop there a while, 
and then go up the Blue Nile to the little 

12 



134 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

springs which Eruce found among some of 
the wild tribes in Abyssinia. Then I would 
return, and, starting afresh, go on and on 
for many hundreds of miles, till among the 
mountains of Soudan I should stand by the 
head-waters of the true Nile/^ 

^^Ah, Eobert, my child, it is easy to sit 
here and think of making discoveries in 
Africa; but how many bold hearts have 
been conquered in this very search by the 
terrors of the climate and the cruelty of 
savages I And yet no wonder your boyish 
enthusiasm is kindled as you think of this 
subject, when travellers like Taylor saj^, 
^ Since Columbus first looked upon San Sal- 
vador, the earth has but one emotion of 
triumph left in her bestowal; and that she 
reserves for him who shall first drink from 
the fountains of the White Nile, under the 
snow-fields of Kilimandjaro/ ^^ 

'^Aunt, why do they call these rivers the 
Blue and White Nile V 

^' On account of the different colour of their 
waters. 

^' The rivers meet at right angles ; but they 
do not mingle their waters for some miles; 
so that the eastern part of the river is white, 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 135 

and the western dark-coloured. The whitish 
appearance is owing to a fine clay held in 
suspension in the water. Khartoum is two 
thousand miles from Cairo, and the current 
is as strong and the river as broad at one 
place as the other; and the way must be 
long before we reach its source in the far- 
distant mountains of Soudan. Yery likely it 
is four thousand miles in all. 

^^But the riddle will soon be solved; for 
men of patience and learning are investi- 
gating it ; and it is a pleasant thought to me 
that, while science is traversing this path 
into the heart of Africa, it is opening a way 
for the gospel to be sent to those poor, de- 
graded tribes who inhabit the land which 
it waters. They are now brought to the 
slave-market for traffic; but I hope w^e shall 
soon go to them with the glad tidings 
of peace and good will which our Saviour 
brought. 

^^The White I^ile has been explored to lat. 
4° north, eight hundred miles beyond the 
island of Aba, (which see on the map,) fol- 
lowing the course of the river. About four- 
teen days' sail from Khartoum may be found 
the islands of the Shillooks. These are a tall, 



136 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

warlike race, who do not cultivate the 
ground, but employ themselves in hunting 
the elephant, hippopotamus and other wild 
beasts. There are about seven thousand 
j)eople in the Shillook villages. The country 
around is described as ver}^ beautiful. The 
lotus abounds here. This flower was con- 
secrated by the ancient Egyptians to their 
gods; and we find it sculptured in bas- 
relief in their temples. The blossom is 
white, and the fruit a small berry, which 
is used by the natives of Africa in making a 
sort of cake which has a very sweet, deli- 
cious taste. Here, too, the palm-tree and the 
tamarind abound.'^ 

^•Aunt, I would almost be willing to go 
to Africa to see the palm-trees. They grow 
very high and then spread out into great 
fan-like leaves.'' 

^^ Yes ; and they are very useful, too. The 
fruit, when fresh, is very delicious, and 
highly esteemed also when dried. The 
wood is hard, and good for building. The 
leaves, after being soaked in water, are made 
into mats and baskets.'' 

^^ And hats, mother, in great quantities." 

^^The nuts are used in making India ink; 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 137 

and wine, too, is made from the sap of the 
tree. The dowm palm, the most beautiful 
of the palms, (for there are many species,) 
is found on the White Nile. The fruit is 
about as large as a walnut, and tastes very 
much like gingerbread. The natives polish 
the kernel and make very yjretty beads, 
and the women weave baskets from the 
leaves tight enough to hold water; and 
some tribes make their tents with mats of 
the dowm leaves. 

^^But I must tell you more about the 
ascent of the White l!s'ile by a Eoman Catho- 
lic missionary. He sailed up the river 
to 4° 10', stopping to visit the different 
tribes. The farther he got from the influ- 
ence of the traders the more mild and 
inoffensive he found the people. They 
worship trees and have a glimmering idea 
of a future existence. Some of the tribes 
are very tall, even seven feet high, and very 
strong and active; and the Baris — the most 
distant tribe he visited — understood smelt- 
ing and working up the iron which they 
found in the mountains. 

^^They gave him some very handsome 
spears and ebony war-clubs. But we will 

12* 



138 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

return to Khartoum, and talk more about 
these tribes when we spend an evening in 
Soudan. 

^^ Khartoum is comparatively a modern 
city. When Ismael, Pasha of Egypt, con- 
quered the country in 1622^ he established 
a military post here. At that time there 
was not a house on the spot. N^ow there 
are thirty thousand inhabitants. It is well 
built. The dwellings are shaded by the 
beautiful trees of the tropics, — oranges, ta- 
marinds, mimosas, &c. 

^^ Still, it is a very unhealthy place, and 
Americans could not reside there many 
years without suffering from the climate ; 
but it is to be the key of Southern ]!!^ubia. 
Here, once a year, the sheikhs of the differ- 
ent tribes between the Nile and the Eed 
Sea, that are subject to Egypt, assemble.^' 

^^ Mother, are there any missionaries sta- 
tioned in this place ?" 

^^ There has been a Eoman Catholic mis- 
sion for some years. They have a spacious 
house^ a beautiful garden, described by Tay- 
lor as filled w4th ^orange, ^g and banana 
trees and fragrant with jasmine and mi- 
mosa blossoms.' 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 189 

^^Many of the inhabitants are Mohammed- 
ans, though one-half of this large population 
are slaves. The quarters of the latter are 
wretched beyond description, and their 
habits so filthy and disgusting that it would 
require a great deal of self-denial and 
patience to teach them. All their furniture 
is a w^ater-skin, a few pots and jars, a basket 
or two, and a coarse frame which serves 
the double purpose of bed and seat. Just 
think of it, boys! — fifteen thousand of these 
poor creatures, not knowing there is a God, 
and having but the faintest idea of any 
existence beyond this life ! 

^^They are brought by traders from the 
distant tribes of Soudan to be sold.^' 

"Aunt,'^ said Frank, ^^ don't you think 
there is a great deal of work in this world 
for Christians?^' 

"You know what our Saviour says, Frank: 
— ^ The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers 
are few.' " 

"Ah, mother," said Eobert, ^^that was 
when there were but few Christians. Chriist 
said that when he had not many followers. 
Don't you think there is money enough and 
men enough in Christian countries to send 



140 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

missionaries to every part of Africa, if they 
had a mind to ?'' 

'^ If they had a mind to ! Perhaps so. But 
that ^if is an important word in that con- 
nection. One difficulty is that Christians 
do not sufficiently inform themselves of the 
ignorance and superstition of the heathen. 
And when they do, the greatness of the 
work almost appalls them. Just think of 
the millions of Africa that have never heard 
of Jesus Christ and the way of salvation V 

"Mother, you said something about there 
being a Christian church once in Nubia. Can 
you tell us more about it V^ 

" I can tell you a little ; but, before doing 
so, I would like to give you some idea of 
this country as it was in ancient times. 
Eobert, take your Bible and turn to 2 Chron. 
xiv. 8; 9.^^ 

"And Asa had an army of men that bare 
targets and spears, out of Judah, three hun- 
dred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that 
bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and 
fourscore thousand; all these were mighty 
men of valor. And there came out against 
them Zerah the Ethiopian, with a host of 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 141 

a thousand thousand, and three hundred 
chariots/^ 

"Why, aunt, what has this to do with 
Nubia T' 

" You recollect that a few minutes since 
I told you that there were the remains of 
ancient temples and pyramids at Meroe, a 
little north of Khartoum. This Meroe was 
the capital of the Ethiopia of the Bible and 
the residence of this very king Zerah. Now, 
a kingdom could not be very new that had 
such w^ealth at its command ; and this, as 
well as other historical facts, lead us to con- 
clude that Ethiopia, of which Nubia formed 
a part, was one of the most ancient king- 
doms in the world.^' 

"Why, aunt, I remember that Job speaks 
of the topaz of Ethiopia; and my Sunday- 
school teacher says that Job lived as early 
as the time of Moses. ""^ 

^^Yes, Frank, in all probabihty Meroe 
was a great city in the time of Moses. Cara- 
vans traversed the desert in those days. 
Meroe was the stopping-place, the store- 
house and the chief place of trade for them. 
Through this city were conveyed the spices, 
gums and aromatics w^hich the Egyptians 



142 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR^ 

used so profusely in embalming, — and the 
cotton also^ which could not have been all 
grown or manufactured in Lower Egypt. 
Sesostris conquered this country fifteen hun- 
dred years before Christ/^ 

^^ What was their religion, mother ?'' 

^^They worshipped Ammon, which is the 
same as the Greek god Jupiter. Great 
temples were erected to him in Meroe^ and 
the city itself was filled with the priesthood. 
One can hardty realize these things when 
they stand amid these pyramids and half- 
demolished temples.^' 

^^But, aunt, didn't these people become 
Christians afterwards ?" 

'' Take the Bible, Frank, and turn to Acts 
viii. 2nr 

Frank reads: — "And he arose and went, 
and behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of 
great authority under Candace, Queen of the 
Ethiopians, who had charge of all her trea- 
sures and had come to Jerusalem for to wor- 
ship '^ 

^^B}^ reading on, you will learn that this 
treasurer of the queen Avas converted and 
baptized. 

"Through him, at least, the Ethiopians 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 143 

might learn of Christ, and probably did; but 
as a nation they did not receive Christian- 
ity till the fourth century. Prom that time 
we have a record of the church until the 
country was overrun by the Mohammedans; 
and I am sorry to add that there js little 
left now save the remnants of some Christian 
churches, the bricks of which have been 
taken to build houses in Khartoum/^ 

^- 1 wish, aunt, it could be reconverted to 
Christianity/^ 

^^ I believe it will be/^ said his aunt, ^^and 
that God's promise shall be fulfilled: — ^Ethio- 
pia shall stretch forth her hands unto God.' '' 

^^ Mother/' said Eobert, ^^ we haven't said 
one word yet about the animals. Do not 
they have lions and elephants and tigers 
there V 

"Yes; and I have marked a passage in 
Taylor's Travels to read to you. He is giving 
a description of the garden of the Austrian 
consul : — 

^' ' Under the long arbours, covered with 
luxuriant grape-vines, stood two surly 
hyenaSj a wild ass from the mountains of 
Atbara, and an Abyssinian mule. A tall 
marabout (a species of crane) stalked about 



144 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

the garden, occasionally bending a hinge in 
the middle of his long legs and doubling 
them backward, so that he used half of 
them for a seat. Adjoining the stable was 
a large sheep-yard, in which were gathered 
gazelles and strange varieties of sheep and 
goats from the White Nile. My favourite, 
however, was the leopard, which was a 
most playful and affectionate creature, ex- 
cept at meal-time. He was not more tha.i 
half s:rown, and had all the wiles of an 
intelligent kitten, climbing his post and 
springing upon me, or creeping up slyly 
and seizing my ankle in his mouth.' 

^^ Again, when he visited Satif Pasha, the 
Governor of Soudan, he says, ^A large 
leopard, and a lion of six months old, were 
chained to two of the pillars in the court. 
A younger lion ran loose about the court, 
and gave great diversion to the pasha by 
lying in wait behind the pillars, whence he 
pounced out upon any young boy slave who 
might pass that way. The little fellow 
would take to his heels in great terror and 
scamper across the court, followed by the 
lion, who no sooner overtook him than he 
sprang with his fore-paws upon his back, 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 145 

threw him down^ and then ran off, apparently 
delighted with the sport. He had the free 
range of the palace, but spent most of his 
time in the kitchen, where he would lie 
down upon the table and watch the cooks 
with great interest.^ 

^^When Taylor left Khartoum, the night 
before his departure, he sa3^s, ^I roused the 
old lioness in her corner, gave her a fare- 
well hug, and sat down on her passive back 
until she stretched out her paws and went 
to sleep again. I then visited the leopard 
in the garden, made him jumj) upon my 
shoulders and play his antics over once 
more. 

^^ ' The hyenas danced and laughed fiend- 
ishly; but the Kordofan antelope came up 
softly and rubbed his nose against my leg, 
asking for the dhourra which I was accus- 
tomed to give him. 

'^^ I gave him and the gazelles and the 
leopard each an affectionate kiss, but j)oked 
the surly hyenas until they howled, on my 
way to bed.' '' 

" Well, aunt, I guess the lions had been 
pretty well tamed.'' 



146 THE LAND OF MYSTERY: OR, 



CHAPTEE XI. 

WESTERN AFRICA. 

One evening, when the boys had lighted 
the lamps and taken their seats at the 

centre-table, Mrs. told them that she 

had a letter from Africa directed to them, 
giving some account of a missionary station 
and life in that region. The boys were 
surprised and delighted, and could hardly 
believe it possible that they were so highly 
favoured; but the signature of Mr. Bushnell 
— whose name they had often seen in the 
missionary papers as that of a resident at 
Nenegenge, near the Gaboon Eiver, and of 
whom their mother had often spoken — con- 
vinced them. 

Before the letter was read, the maps 
were produced, and information gained 
about that station. 

The Gaboon mission commenced in 1842. 
It takes its name from the river on the 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 147 

banks of which it is located. This river 
rises in a range of highlands about as high 
as the Catskill Mountains in New York, and 
not far from one hundred miles from the 
coast. It has many tributaries, or sources, 
and runs nearly a westerly course, and 
empties into the ocean a few miles north 
of the equator. At its mouth it is eight 
miles wide, and averages that width for the 
distance of thirty miles or more, when it 
divides into two principal branches, which 
are from a half mile to a mile and a half in 
width. 

There are four tribes inhabiting the 
banks of the river, its tributaries and the 
surrounding country, — viz., first, the Misson- 
gens; second, the Shekanies; thirdly, the 
Bahelies; and fourth, the Pargenes, who 
have but recently come down from the 
highlands of the unexplored interior. The 
missionaries labour among all these tribes. 
There are three stations, — one on the north 
side of the river, ten miles from the ocean, 
another thirty-flve miles inland, and the 
third on the island of l^enegenge, at the 
junction of the two principal branches of 
the Gaboon, about eighty miles from the 



148 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

ocean, and in full view of the interior high- 
lands. There are many little villages on 
and near the river. 

The women cultivate the ground enough 
to supply the wants of the people, while the 
men hunt, fish, go to war, and trade, — for 
which they have a passion. Several hun- 
dred children have been educated in these 
schools: some of these are now employed 
as assistants in the mission ; others are in 
the employ of foreigners, acting as clerks, 
interpreters or tradesmen on board vessels 
and at trading-factories on shore. The 
number at present in the schools is seventy- 
five ; and the missionaries hope to increase 
the number soon. 

The letter was then read, which was as 
follows : — 

^^My dear young Friends: — I suppose 
you have heard and read much about the 
heathen in different parts of the world, and 
know that their condition is truly wretched. 
I have seen many of them, having lived in 
Africa many years. And now, if I could 
sit down and talk familiarly with you and 
give you an opportunity to ask me questions, 
you would enjoy it very much; and I am 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 149 

sure I should, — for I love children. But, as 
we cannot enjoy this privilege, I will write 
you a few facts respecting the poor heathen 
children in Africa. They are very numerous. 
Africa is a large country and in most places 
is densely populated. So that there are at 
least several millions of children there ; and 
until recently they were all heathen. They 
live in a hot climate, where there is no win- 
ter, but perpetual summer prevails every- 
where. The forests are green, the flowers 
blooming and the birds sweetly singing all 
the time. It would be a delightful countr}^ 
if the people were Christians and had 
schools and churches, &c., as we have ; but 
because they are heathen people, who wor- 
ship idols, it is a land of darkness and 
cruelty and sin. 

"' The children are poor and wear but 
little clothing, have but miserable huts to 
live in, and often suffer from hunger and 
neglect. They are early taught many fool- 
ish and sinful things. They learn to steal 
and quarrel and fight ; and the little boys, 
as soon as they are old enough to paddle a 
canoe, or throw a spear, or shoot a poisoned 
arroW; are taken with their fathers when 
13* 



150 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

fcliey go out to war. Then, instead of being 
taught that beautiful little prayer, ^Now I 
lay me down to sleep/ or, ^Our Father 
who art in heaven,' they are taught to 
worship fetiches and idols and to pray to 
the spirits of their deceased friends, and 
even to worship demons or wicked spirits. 
In this way they are early instructed in 
the foolish superstitions of their heathen 
parents, and grow up without any know- 
ledge of God, or .Jesus, or the way to be 
saved. Often I have seen« these little chil- 
dren with fetiches or idols tied round their 
necks, their wrists and waists, and even 
braided into their hair ; and they supposed 
these foolish things watched over them and 
preserved their lives ; and when I have pro- 
posed to remove them from their persons 
they have been frightened, and ran from me, 
fearing they should die if they lost them. 
Their little minds are very dark, and their 
hearts are sadly depraved; and when they 
die how can they go to dwell with Jesus, 
whom they have never known and trusted? 
" But I am happy to tell you that within 
a few years past missionaries have gone to 
many places in Africa to tell the poor hea- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 151 

then about Christ; and wherever they have 
gone they have estabhshed schools and 
gathered into them many of the dear chil- 
di'en and youth, who are now being trained 
up in the fear of the Lord, and learning to 
walk in the path that leads to heaven. 
They generally learn very fast, and in a 
little while are able to read their own lan- 
guage and also the English language. And 
after they have learned to read they are 
very fond of reading, especially the precious 
Bible. They commit to memory Bible-les- 
sons and little hymns and recite them in 
their Sabbath-schools. They have sweet 
voices, and delight in singing sweet little 
hymns, such as, ^ There is a happy land;' 
and often for hours at a time they engage 
in this delightfal employment. And many 
of them soon throw away their fetiches and 
learn to pray to God. Often have I seen 
them kneeling with their eyes closed and 
their little hands clasped, and have listened 
to their prayers as they have asked their 
heavenly Father to forgive their sins and 
give them new hearts for Christ's sake. 
And sometimes I have seen them, rejoicing 
in the Saviour's pardoning love, come and 



152 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

be baptized and received to the mission 
church. Oh, what a pleasant sight it was 
to see the dear little lambs of Christ's flock, 
who had been rescued from the power of the 
destroyer, — from their pagan superstitions, 
— rejoicing in Jesus' love and in the hope of 
heaven. And I have seen several of these 
converted African children die, — die without 
fear, but with the joyful hope of going to 
dwell with Jesus to sing his praises in hea- 
ven. Do you not think we are doing a 
good work in instructing these heathen 
children ? Will you not join in this work by 
contributing your money, and also by pray- 
ing for them ? And will you not give your 
hearts to Christ and ask him if he will not 
give you the privilege of going in person 
to help save the millions of perishing hea- 
then in Africa ? 

^^Affectionately your^s, 

^^A. BUSHNELL." 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 153 



CHAPTEE XII. 

SOUTH AFRICA. 

^^We come this evening, children, to 
what may be called quite ancient mission- 
ary ground. More than a hundred years 
ago, teachers were sent to this part of 
Africa. In 1736, George Schmidt, a Mora- 
vian, went alone and established himself as 
a missionary among the Hottentots. Here 
he would gladly have stayed all his life ; but 
the Dutch then owned this territory, and 
they were so afraid that the teaching of the 
missionaries might injure their trade that 
they would not allow him to remain.^' 

^' I think that is very strange, mother,— 
as if being Christians would spoil them for 
business V 

"• They found out their mistake before 
many years, and in 1792 three missionaries 
were sent to the same place; and, though 
fifty years had passed away, they found the 



154 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

walls of Mr. Schmidt's house still standing, 
and the fruit-trees which he set out. There 
is still (or was a few years ago) a pear-tree, 
now very large, which he planted. Better 
than this, they found an aged Hottentot 
woman, who had been told of Jesus by the 
good Moravian, was baptized by him, and 
now had in her possession a Testament 
which bore plain marks of good use. 

^^For more than half a century this 
woman had retained the instruction of her 
teacher, and now welcomed these mission- 
aries with great joy.'^ 

^' Why, aunt, I think that w^as the fulfil- 
ment of God's promise that his word shall 
not be lost.^' 

"Yes:— 

* Though seed lie buried long in dust, 
^Twill not deceive our hope.' 

"Soon after this, in 1795, the London 
Missionary Society was formed; and ever 
since there have been missionaries among 
the Hottentots and the neighbouring tribes. 
The American Board of Commissioners for 
Foreign Missions have twelve stations there.'' 

" Now, mother, I want to ask a question 
which, after all you have said, may seem to 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 155 

show my ignorance : — Are the people of 
South Africa negroes ? and, if not, what are 
they, and where did they come from?'^ 

^^I am very glad you have asked the 
question, Eobert \ for I will try to give you 
more correct views than I had at 3^our age. 
When the Cape was first discovered in 1652, 
the promontory was inhabited by Hotten- 
tots. As I have told you before, they i>re 
not negroes, for they are not black, but 
swarthy, and sometimes so light that a 
tinge of red is perceived in the cheek. 

'^ The true negro is not found south of 
20° in Africa. Below this latitude the Hot- 
tentots, Corannas, Namaquas and Bushmen 
live, all resembling each other and having 
probably a common origin. Mr. Moffatt, 
who has been thirty years in Africa, says 
they resemble the Chinese in features more 
than any other nation.^' 

'^ Aunt, what kind of people are the Bush- 
men V^ 

" A very strange people, I assure you. 
Some would say of them that they are only 
a connecting-link between animals and man. 
They are a poor, miserable people, always 
wandering, keeping 60 cattle, having no 



156 

villages or communities and no domestic 
animals except the dog. 

" They do not even live in tents^ but sleep 
on the sand; and live on wild roots, berries 
and locusts. Even their language is so 
poor, and they make such a clicking, rat- 
tling sound when talking, that it would be 
difficult to reduce it to writing. 

'^ Now look on the map, and you will find, 
north of the Fish Eiver, Caffraria. This is 
inhabited by the Kafirs, or Caffres. I have 
already told you about them, — bold and 
warlike, well formed, and very difficult to 
conquer. They are divided into various 
tribes ; and there are some flourishing mis- 
sionary stations among them. They are 
very similar to the Bechuanas,* who live 
between latitudes 20° and 25°. 

"These last are also divided into many 
tribes, which are named after animals, as 
Batlapi, (the Fish,) Bakatla, (Monkey,) &c. 
Some of these tribes receive the gospel 
readily, are easily taught, are kind to 
the missionaries,* and there seems great en- 

* See ^^ Gospel among the Bechuanas, and other tribes of 
Southern Africa/^ published by the American Sunday-School 
Union. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 157 

couragement to labour to elevate them. Dr. 
Livingstone tells us that Sechele^ one of 
their chiefs, was very kind to him from the 
first and asked many questions about the 
new doctrine. He learned the alphabet in 
one day, and used to read the Bible a great 
deal. His favourite book was Isaiah. He 
embraced Christianity, gave up all his wives 
but one, and was a firm and constant friend 
of the missionary .'' 

'^Do you mean, aunt, that he learned our 
English alphabet and read in our Bible V^ 

" No : I ought to have told you before 
that Mr. Moifatt had been for many years 
translating the Bible into their language, 
and, I think, had completed a large part of 
it when Dr. Livingstone commenced his 
mission.^' 

^^Aunt,'' said Frank, (his face full of 
animation,) ^^ wouldn't you rather translate 
the Bible for a nation that had never read 
it than be worth a million of dollars?'^ 

^^I was thinking the other day. Prank, 
when reading the labours of Moffatt, that if 
I had given the Bible to these tribes I could 
say, when I came to the close of my work, 

14 



158 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^ Lord; now lettest thou thy servant depart 
in peace/ ^' 

^'1 suppose, aunt, that he worked as 
hard and as many hours as rich men do 
to gain a fortune/' 

^'Yes; and endured hunger and thirst, 
poverty and sorrow ; but great will be his 
reward/' 

"Mother, can you tell us about the cli- 
mate of South Africa V^ 

" Some parts are delightful. The Zulu 
country is well watered and wooded and 
considered healthy. 

" There are parts of the Bechuana country 
where the droughts are long and distressing 
and the people suffer for want of water. 
They have among them what are called 
rain-makers, who try all sorts of incan- 
tations to produce rain. The climate near 
the coast is not so healthy as more inland; 
but many diseases common among us are 
almost unknown in the Bechuana country. 
Consumption, scrofula, cancer and cholera 
are unknown. 

"But I must tell you about the Boers, 
another part of their population.'' 

" I have always wanted to know, mother^ 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 159 

what the word means; for I see it frequently 
in my geography and other books on Africa/^ 

" The word means simply ^ a farmer/ They 
are descendants of the first Dutch settlers, 
mingled with English deserters and other 
lawless characters. 

^^ A large body of them settled in Caffraria, 
and have been no help to the missionaries. 
They take unlawful means to capture the 
neighbouringblacks for slaves^ and do nothing 
to elevate the tribes. Perhaps in all mission 
stations the greatest difficulty which the 
natives have to contend with is the influence 
of wicked white men. What a pity that 
those who have received the gospel should 
bring reproach upon it V^ 

" What is the trade of South Africa, mo- 
ther ?^^ 

^^ We have hides and ivory, — which are 
brought from the regions farther north, — 
some wax, wine, fruits, and a few plants 
used in medicine and the arts. We send 
calico and beads to them. Dr. Livingstone 
met native traders selling calico on the 
banks of the Zambesi, labelled ^Lawrence 
Mills, Lawrence, Mass.^ But there will soon 
be more trade opened ujo with the interiorc 



160 

The tribes^ as far as known, are very fond 
of trade. They know nothing of money. 
It is all barter ; but they will w^ork hard to 
have something to exchange for beads and 
calico. It is in this way, we hope, that the 
gospel and civilization may be introduced 
among them, and that these poor tribes, who 
now sell their captives taken in war, w^ill 
learn to raise from their rich soil such 
articles as coffee, sugar, indigo, figs, grapes, 
&c. for exportation. Africa is rich in natu- 
ral productions : she has gorgeous plants, 
a prolific soil ; and her tribes will one day, 
we believe, take their place among the 
civilized nations of the earth. 

"Perhaps God has permitted that con- 
tinent to be hidden for so many years, that, 
when open to man, the gospel might have 
entrance also.^' 

"Aunt, are there not a great many wars 
among the different tribes ?^' 

" Yes ; and sometimes a whole tribe are 
driven from their villages, taken captive 
and sold to traders, who take them to the 
coast for the slave-market. You can judge 
how populous Africa must be, when it is 
computed that, within two centuries and a 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 161 

half, forty million of slaves have been 
taken away, and the population is still 
large/' 

" But I suppose South Africa is more 
under the influence of the gospel than any 
other part ?'' 

" Yes ; and it is gradually increasing its 
commerce and manufactures. Natal, in 
Caffraria, has lately introduced the manu- 
facture of sugar. 

^' In one district, where seven years ago 
not a foot of land was cultivated, there are 
now six sugar-factories. 

^^One planter made sixty tons of sugar 
in one season, besides a large quantity of 
molasses. The Cafires labour for them at a 
very cheap rate. A kind, judicious man, who 
treats them well, can procure as many la- 
bourers as he wishes. A great part of South 
Africa is adapted to the cane ; and it will 
one day be a great sugar-making country.^' 

'^ If sugar can grow there, mother, then 
may not the productions and fruits of the 
Southern Temperate Zone grow there V^ 

"Yes: arrow-root grows well; and a 
gentleman, in a letter from there lately, 
states that fifty or sixty tons were raised 

14* 



162 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

in the vicinity of Port Natal the last year. 
Cotton, coffee and indigo are all easily 
raised. They now raise and manufacture 
their own flour/^ 

<^ Why, aunt, I think Africa will some day 
become a great country for manufactures 
and commerce. The natives are fond of 
trade; and if they can be taught to cultivate 
their rich soil they will perhaps be less 
anxious to engage in war for the sake of 
selling their fellow-men for slaves.^' 

'' I think so. In the vicinity of Natal this 
writer states that apples, pears, peaches, 
cherries, plums, quinces, lemons, oranges, 
pineapples, wheat, rye, Indian corn and 
potatoes will all grow to perfection. The 
highlands, too, may be covered with sheep ; 
while there are many running streams that 
may be made to turn the machinery for 
manufacturing the wool of the lowlands. 
But I will quote his own expressions about 
Natal : — 

'' ' Natal is destined to bear an important 
part in the future history of South Africa. 
Possessing the only harbour along a coast of 
three or four hundred miles, through her 
must be entered the 'vast regions beyond. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 163 

Having within her own borders the elements 
of a high civilization, and a large propor- 
tion of her population being Christians and 
many of them missionaries, Natal will be to 
the future of Africa what New England has 
been to the United States. Situated on the 
border of a continent of heathenism, from 
her will spread forth the light of the gospel 
to the millions who are beyond/ 

^^ To-morrow evening I will tell you of 
some more bright spots in this dark land.^' 

^' Do you mean the British and American 
settlements, aunt, on the west coast ?^' 

^^Yes, — Sierra Leone and Liberia.^^ 



164 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

SIERRA LEONE. 

^^ This evening/' said Mrs. Lee, ^^ I promised 
to give you some account of Sierra Leone 
and Liberia. I shall be very brief, as you may 
find accounts of them in several books. My 
principal object in talking with you about 
Africa has been to give you such information 
as you will not readily find in your own 
libraries ; or, if I have gone back to former 
travellers, it has been to compare them with 
the researches of those of later times.'' 

^^ Mother, does not 'sierra^ mean a chain 
of mountains?'' 

'^Yes, and Heone^ lion : so that you may 
conclude that lions inhabit this region." 

^^ I think, aunt, I have read that a good 
man in England — Granville Sharpe — first 
proposed to send liberated blacks there." 

^^ Yes; and he laboured hard to build up 
the colony during his life. He met with 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 165 

many obstacles. The climate was found 
very unhealthy, — especially for white men. 
Then many of the blacks that were sent 
were not well fitted to govern or provide 
for themselves, and they did not cultivate 
the land so well as it was hoped they would. 
The first six months, they received a daily 
allowance from government, and then were 
expected to support themselves. The popu- 
lation was increased by slaves found on 
board the slave-ships which are seized hy 
British cruisers. Twenty thousand have 
been thus liberated. 

"The settlement was commenced in 1787, 
and it was hoped that, in time, the settlers 
would be the means of opening a trade with 
the interior 3 and, though the benevolent 
wishes of the founders have not been all 
realized, they feel that good has been done. 

'^ The colony is now in a more prosperous 
condition.'' 

" Mother, I think they ought not to have 
expected great results at once. It is very 
different from emigrating to the unsettled 
parts of our own country ; and even then it 
takes a long time to establish schools and 
churches.'' 



166 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^^That is true, my child; and these poor 
people had not only to contend with their 
own indolent habits and an unhealthy cli- 
mate, but had troubles with their savage 
neighbours and were once attacked and 
destroyed by the French/' 

'' Is not Freetown the capital V^ 

" It is, and has a population of over 16,000 
people. The trade consists in teak and 
cam wood, ivory, palm-oil, hides and gums/' 

^^Is not Liberia larger than Sierra Le- 
one?'' 

^^ Liberia has two hundred and twenty- 
five miles of sea-coast, while Sierra Leone has 
but twenty-five. It has a more salubrious 
climate, and a number of large, navigable 
rivers. This colony was settled in 1821. 
The plan was first proposed by some of the 
good men in our country, who desired to 
make a home for the free blacks and 
through them to introduce Christianity and 
commerce into the interior of Africa. I 
could fill a volume with their perplexities 
and trials. I could tell you of the devoted 
Ashmun, who went out with a company of 
blacks, and, while weak from recent sickness 
caused by the climate, was attacked by 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 167 

eight hundred armed savages ! He was a 
true Christian hero, and, had he lived, would 
probably have spent his life in this cause; 
but he never recovered from sickness caused 
by the climate. He died in his thirty-fifth 
year. I could tell you, too, of Samuel J. 
Mills, who died in this cause, and of many 
others who have consecrated their lives to 
it, hoping thereby to do good to Africa. 
And perhaps, too, you would be interested 
in the African chief Boatswain, who helped 
to settle the early difficulties between the 
colonists and the natives. '^ 

'^ Mother, I think Monrovia, the capital 
of Liberia, was named for President Monroe.^^ 

" It was, on account of his interest in the 
object. 

^^ There is a mission station about one 
hundred miles inland from Monrovia, in the 
Passy country. 

^^ The climate here is more healthy than 
on the coast, and the soil is fertile. They 
raise Indian corn, rice, yams, potatoes, 
oranges, lemons, cotton and indigo. Coffee 
and tobacco thrive here, and several varieties 
of pepper. The missionary there states 
that the people are kind, peaceful, and 



168 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

hospitable to strangers. They are not ido- 
laterS; having no particular form of worship. 
The country is well timbered, and they have 
stone for building, and they have iron ore 
which they work. They manufacture their 
cotton into cloth, and make dishes of clay, 
and trade in rice, cam-wood, fowls and pea- 
nuts, and take muskets, powder and Euro- 
pean cloths in exchange. The neighbour- 
hood of Liberia is a check to the internal 
slave-trade. 

^^The same missionary thinks if there 
was only a good road from this region to 
Monrovia, trade would increase and that 
Liberia and Passy would both be benefited.'' 

"A good idea, mother ! That is just what 
they need, — good roads, and steamboats on 
their rivers.'' 

^^ He estimates the expense at three thou- 
sand dollars, and thinks that the increase 
of trade would repay it." 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 169 



CHAPTEE XIY. 

MOHAMMEDANS IN AFRICA. 

"I WISH, Mother/' said Frank, ^^that you 
would tell us more about the cities and 
towns in the Desert/' 

'^ If it were in my power, I would do so ; 
but we are little acquainted with them 
as yet. Timbuctoo, one of the largest, has 
been zealously guarded from Christian eyes 
by the Mohammedans, — as you will learn 
from the accounts of Mr. Eichardson and 
Dr. Barth. These people are more difficult 
of access than the pagans.'' 

^^ I think," said Eobert, '' it might be easily 
visited from the west coast, and would not 
be half so difficult of access as Loanda was 
to Mr. Livingstone from Lake Ngami." 

" It need not be, were it not for the jea- 
lousy of the Mohammedans, who are so 
thickly scattered over the Desert. They 
have great contempt for a Christian, and 

15 



r 



170 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR; 

are much opposed to their travelling in 
Africa. They propagate their religion by 
the fire and sword; and it is a part of their 
practice, if not of their creed, to heap con- 
tempt and reproach upon all Christians. 
Poor Mungo Park was glad to find a refuge 
from their cruelty in the kindness of the 
pagan savages ; and almost every Christian 
traveller in Northern Africa has experienced 
their ill treatment. Before they overran 
the country there were Christian settlements 
in the northern part of the Desert, the 
ruins of which are still remaining and can 
be traced back to the twelfth century. At 
that time there were Christians living here, 
under the protection of a powerful chief. 
Earth found the ruins of a beautiful Christian 
temple on a narrow and detached piece of 
rock in the northern part of the Desert. It 
was about forty-five feet square, and had 
once been ornamented with sculpture and 
paintings. 

^^ But it is a long time now since the Arabs 
overran the country, making nominal con- 
verts of all the tribes in that region, and 
driving out Christianity, as I said, with fire 
and sword. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 171 

" It is now very difScult for a Christian, 
as such, to visit Timbuctoo. Even Barth, 
who had spent years in the Desert, always 
before frankly avowing his country and 
religion, dared not visit Timbuctoo/' 

The boys were anxious to know how Mo- 
hammedanism came to spread so extensively 
in Northern Africa. 

"You know, I suppose/' said Mrs. Lee, 
"that Mohammed was a native of Arabia, — 
a country that has from very ancient times 
had intercourse with Africa. He was born 
between five hundred and six hundred years 
after Christ. When quite a boy, he spent some 
time in a convent, where one of the monks 
took a great interest in him. There, pro- 
bably, he learned something of the Christian 
religion and its founder. He always pro- 
fessed respect for Christ as a teacher and 
prophet. 

"When he was about forty years old, he 
first promulgated his peculiar views, giving 
out to the world that he was an inspired pro- 
phet, — that there was one true God, whom 
men ought to worship, and not idols made by 
their own hands. He was the means of 
weaning many of his countrymen from ido- 



172 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

latry ; but he had very little of the meekness 
and purity of the Lord Jesus. He com- 
manded his followers to destroy all their 
enemies who would not adopt his creed! 

^^Long and bitter wars soon sprung up, in 
many of which he was successful, — though 
in the third year of his prophetic life he was 
obliged to flee from Mecca (which place he 
called his home) to Medina. This event is 
called by his followers the ^Hegira/ or 
Flight; and they reckon time from that 
event, as we reckon it from the birth of 
Christ.^' 

^^But, aunt, were the Arabians all ido- 
laters when Mohammed first taught T^ 

" Why, no, Frank,'' said Eobert : ^' don't 
you remember that we learned at Sunday- 
school that St, Paul preached the gospel 
first in Arabia after his conversion? He speaks 
of it in Galatians i. 17: — ^Neither went I up 
to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles 
before me; but I went into Arabia.^ '^ 

i'Yevj well, Eobert,'' said his mother; 
^^and the Christians even as early as the 
time of Paul founded churches in North- 
ern Africa. But I am sorry to saj^ that 
some time before the rise of Mohammedan- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 173 

ism these churches had departed from the 
simplicity and purity of apostolic times 
and had bitter contentions about creeds and 
unimportant doctrinal points. They forgot 
what Paul had said, — * I am determined to 
know nothing among you but Christ and 
him crucified/ — and disputed about trifling 
points of belief, till they were divided into 
sects that were very bitter towards each 
other. It was thus that they were easily 
conquered by Mohammed and his troops; 
and in Northern Africa nothing but a few 
ruins are left to tell us that the light of 
Christianity once shone there. 

" I have told you a little about Mohammed, 
that you may be able to understand how 
his religion came to prevail in Northern 
Africa. 

"Dr. Earth carried the Koran with him 
when he went through the Desert to Tim- 
buctoo, and, by understanding the Moslem 
laws and doctrines, was able sometimes to 
silence the disputes of the natives and dis- 
arm their antipathy to the Christians. 

" When he came nearer to the city, he put 
himself under the protection of an Arab, who 
advised him to represent himself as a 

15* 



174 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

' scheriff carrying books from the east to 
the sheikh. This ruse turned downwards 
the points of a hundred and fifty spears 
raised against him; but then he was obliged 
to lay his hands upon them and pronounce 
a blessing. 

^^ But the Arab guide is treacherous, and 
the doctor is suspected of being a Christian ; 
but, to avoid trouble, he repeats the opening 
prayer of the Koran. 

" The day after his arrival, he heard that 
Hammadi, the rival of the sheikh, had in- 
formed the fiilbe, or native people of the 
town, that he was a Christian, and they had 
come to the determination of killing him. 

'' He was not allowed to stir about, but 
was confined to the walls of his house; and 
all the exercise and fresh air which he had 
he obtained by mounting to the terrace of 
his house. Here he could see one of the 
numerous mosques which adorn the city, 
and a wide expanse of the Desert. The 
streets of the city are very narrow, and the 
houses are built of clay, sometimes very 
low, and a few rising two stories in height. 
^ Huts of matting were scattered in various 
parts of the city. There are in all about 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 175 

nine hundred and eighty clay houses and 
two hundred huts. 

'' His companions spoke of the Christians 
in the most insulting manner, describing 
them as sitting like women in the bottom 
of their steamboats and doing nothing but 
eating raw eggs ; and in his opinion the hea- 
then Bambarra people were better people, 
and more advanced in civilization, than 
the Christians. A raw egg is a disgusting 
article to a Mohammedan ; but he had pro- 
bably seen the French eat freely of boiled 
eggs, and thought such diet necessary to a 
Christian.^' 



176 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 



CHAPTBE Xy. 

MISSIONARY LABOURS. 

" Fling out our banners to the breeze ; 
Be every sail unfurl'd : 
Our ship must cleave the farthest seas 
And reach the heathen world." 

It was during these conversations upon 
Africa that the little boys Eobert and Frank 
returned from the Sunday-school and in- 
formed Mrs. Lee that they wished to con- 
tribute to the support of a missionary to 
the heathen. 

"Very well/^ said Mrs. Lee : "I hope you 
will be willing to give something from your 
own purses." 

^^ Yes, indeed, mother. Don^t you know I 
have some money left from the sale of 
my garden-vegetables last summer? Didn't 
you know I was a farmer, Prank ?'' 

^^Why, no, Eobert. How much did you 
make ?" 

"You see, my father gave me a piece of 
land and told me I might do what I pleased 
with it. It was not very rich : so I collected 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 177 

heaps of dead leaves and muck, and I had a 
present of some guano. It was hard work, 
I tell you, after the weather became warm, 
to hoe and weed. I used to sweat over it ; 
and sometimes, when the bugs ate up my 
vines and the weeds grew thick and tall, I 
would get out of patience and throw down 
my hoe in despair. Then I would remem- 
ber I was ten years old, — big enough to do 
something; and I would go at it again. 
When it came fall, I was not sorry. I 
raised a dollar's worth of marrow-squashes, 
fifty cents^ worth of sage, two bushels of 
potatoes, two bushels of pop-corn, and mxty 
cents' worth of asparagus. Now, you see, 
when I go to the Sunday-school Monthly 
Concert, I don^t have to ask my father for 
a penny; and when the teacher talked about 
the missionary contribution to-day, I said to 
myself, ^Tm a farmer; lean afford to do 
something for it.^ ^^ 

Such were the feelings of the boys on 
their return from the Sunday-school. The 
next day Eobert was sent to the village 
store on some errands. Now, a village store 
on a cold winter's day is a gathering-place 
for a variety of characters. The farmer 
comes to mill with his grain, and while the 



178 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

miller is getting the grist ready he steps 
in to warm himself and buy his groceries. 
The wood-cutter stops with his load to have 
it measured. The mechanic runs in to buy 
pork or butter of the farmer ; the doctor, to 
collect a bill; the lawyer, to see a client; and 
the boys, with ears and eyes wide open, to 
hear what the group have to say. Eobert 
had as much curiosity as most boys of his 
age : so, while the trader was weighing the 
butter for a farmer's wife and selling her 
some calico to pay for it, he stood around 
the stove with others, listening to the con- 
versation. 

He made no remarks when he came 
home, but seemed very absent-minded and 
thoughtful. 

When evening came, he seated himself 
in a chair by his mother's side and sat 
V looking intently into the fire for some 
minutes. 

"Mother,'' said he at last, "what is 
humbug ?" 

^•It is a low word for imposition, cheat- 
ing, — sometimes used for delusion." 

"Then if a thing is a humbug it is not 
worth any thing ?" 

" No, — ^not if it is proved to be such." 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 179 

^^Well, mother, I was in the store this 
morning, and Squire Hillman said that these 
foreign missions were all a humbug: he 
didn^t believe any thing in them ; and, for 
his part, he never could learn where all the 
money went. He guessed it was all used 
up before the heathen got any of it. 

" As soon as he had done, Mr. Williams, 
the tavern-keper, added that he thought 
charity begins at home : we had poor peo- 
ple enough in our own place to give our 
money to ; and when there was no suffering 
here he guessed it would be time enough to 
give to the Africans and the Hindoos. Mr. 
Willard said that Christianity didn't do 
them any good when they did get it. The 
Indians were better off without the Bible 
than with it ; for the more intercourse they 
had with the whites the worse they be- 
came. That is just what they said, mother.'^ 
And the little boy turned to the fire again, 
and looked very sad, as if he had awaked 
fi'om some pleasant dream and was grieved 
to find that it was not a reality. Just then 
Frank came into the room. 

^^ What makes you look so sad to-night, 
Bobr^ 

" Oh, I was only thinking.'^ 



180 THE LAND OP MYSTERY; OR, 

" If you had been where I have, I guess 
you would look sadder yet. Father was 
riding this afternoon; and he let me go with 
him to the town-farm, — where the poor live, 
you know. And, aunt, only think! we found 
there old Mr. Hillman, Squire Hill man's 
father! The poor old man seemed very 
sad, and the tears ran down his cheeks when 
he talked with father. I don't understand 
why he is there; for Squire Hillman has 
money enough.'' 

"I understood, Frank," said Mrs. Lee^ 
^^ that he said he couldn't do any more for 
his father. He had as much as he wanted to 
do to take care of his own family." 

^f But he has a fine house and a great deal 
of land ; and Harry Hillman has plenty of 
money to spend." 

" Perhaps, after all, he will be as happy 
where he now is, if he can only recover from 
the mortification of it. He was not treated 
very well by his children or grandchildren 
while he was with them, and was made to 
feel his dependence. The hardest part of 
it is to have our children unwilling to take 
care of us in our old age." 

^^ Mother/' said Eobert,jumping up, ^^ Squire 
Hillman is a humbug, I know. Talking 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 



181 



about charity, and then breaking the fifth 
commaDdment T' 

'' Then I need not spend time to prove to 
you that he was wrong in caUing foreign 
missions by that name/' 

^^Not one minute, mother/' 

^' A word as to Mr. Williams, the tavern- 
keeper. Some years ago he sold great quan- 
tities of intoxicating liquor, and had done so 
for many years. More than a dozen fami- 
lies in this town were brought to poverty, 
and many of them to an early grave, by the 
rum sold at that tavern. 

^^The Female Temperance Society ap- 
pointed two ladies to remonstrate with him 
and try to persuade him to give up the sale 
of these poisons. This was before any pro- 
hibitory law was passed. He hardly treated 
them with civility, and said he thought the 
society were very meddlesome to interfere 
with his business. ^This Temperance So- 
ciety is all a humbug/ said he. ' Just as if 
people were going to stop drinking, give up 
their liberty, for a few fanatics! No! they 
would drink, — and drink what they hked, 
loo ^ and he might as well sell it to them as 
to have others do it. If people would make 

16 



182 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR; 

drunkards of themselves, it was their fault, 
— not his. He should pursue his lawful 
business/ ^' 

'^ If that is the way his charity began at 
home, mother, I guess it will never be so 
expansive as to overflow heathen lands/' 

" I think not. But the last objection will 
require more time to answer. In doing so 
I must try and tell you a little about mis- 
sionaries and their labours. 

^^ One instance occurs to me at this mo- 
ment. When I was about the age of little 
Flora and was learning my a b c's, the 
Sandwich Islands were inhabited by ido- 
laters. They were very degraded and igno- 
rant, and those ten beautiful islands were 
full of the abominations of heathenism. In 
1820 the first missionaries were sent there. 
Some two or three years afterwards a 
reinforcement was sent, and very soon an- 
other. By this time I was old enough to 
understand the subject, and my mother told 
me about these islands, and a good minister 
and his wife came to make us a visit just 
before their embarkation for these ishmds. 
Such an interest was excited in my mind 
then that I have from year to year followed 
the history of this mission. There is now 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 183 

no idolatry in the islands. There are 
twenty-two missionaries, — of which num- 
ber two only are wholly suj^ported by 
Christians in this country. 

^^The government there supports ten 
missionaries wholly, and ten more in part. 
It has expended in a single year $47,000 in 
education, besides pledging $10,000 towards 
a college. 

'^ There are ten thousand children in the 
government schools, more than half of whom 
can read and more than a third write. Be- 
sides doing 'so much at home, they have 
given $1,837 for foreign missions.'' . 

^'And all this has been done, mother, 
since you were born V 

^^ Yes, my child; and Christians exclaim, 
when they look upon these islands, ^What 
hath God wrought !' 

^' Still more wonderful has been the in- 
fluence of missions in Tahiti and the Society 
Islands through the influence of British 
missionaries. But what do you think is 
the greatest drawback these missionaries 
have ?'' 

*^ Why, aunt, it must be, I think, learning 
the language of the natives and preparing 
books for them.'^ 



184 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

^^ Oh, no, Frank. Our missionaries call 
that a pleasant part of their work. It is the 
rum and blasphemy introduced by wicked 
jixen, — American and British sailors.'' 

"Then if our sailors were Christians, mo- 
ther, they would do almost as much good as 
missionaries.'' 

'^Yes; and I am rejoiced to know that 
it is becoming much more common to find 
sailors in ships who read the Bible and do 
not take God's name in vain. But, as we 
are upon Africa now, I would like to tell 
you about some of the missionaries there. 
One who. has been there more than thirty 
years says, ^My first house was made of 
poles in a circular form tied together and 
covered with mats. I lived six months in 
this house. When the sun shone, it was 
unbearably hot 3 when the rain fell, I came 
in for a share of it; and when the wind 
blew, I had to decamp to escape the dust. 
In addition to these inconveniences, any 
hungry cur of a dog that wished a night's 
lodging would force himself through the frail 
wall and often eat up my food. More than 
once I have found a serpent coiled up in a 
corner. I was alone, with no friend or 
brother to whom I could look for counsel 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 185 

and advice. My pay was odc hundred and 
twenty-five dollars a year. No grain, and 
of course no bread; and no prospect of 
getting any, from want of water to cultivate 
the ground. I was among savage tribes, 
suspicious and jealous. My life was in their 
hands. All these things led me to search 
my own heart, to see if I had aimed at 
doing and suffering the will of God.' Every 
day, morning and evening, this missionary 
gathered the natives about him and told 
them, as well as he could, in broken lan- 
guage, of the Saviour. 

^^His food often consisted of a cup of 
milk in the morning, another at noon, and 
a third at night, either sweet, sour or 
curdled. ^I had/ he says, ^frequently long 
fasts/ and sometimes he had to fasten a 
girdle tightly about him to prevent the 
gnawing feeling of hunger. ^ On more than 
one occasion I have shouldered my gun and 
gone to the plain or mountain in search of 
something to eat, and when unsuccessful 
returned and taken the word of life and 
addressed my congregation.^ He was often 
obliged to wash and iron his own clothes 
and to mend them too. In his journal, re- 

16* 



186 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

ferring to thiB, he says that, when a child, 
his mother, to keep him out of mischief, 
taught him to sew and knit, and when he 
told her he was going to be a man she 
would say, ^Lad, ye dinna ken whaur your 
lot will be cast/ He was glad of this know- 
ledge when among the untaught Africans. 

^^ These were not the hardest of their 
trials. If the poor natives would only hear 
them, they were happy to suffer for their 
sake. But they were very filthy, and if not 
watched would steal every thing they could 
lay their hands upon, sometimes watching 
till the missionary had gone to his school, 
and then, entering his hut, would put a stone 
in his pot in exchange for the meat which 
they would take away ! * 

'^ The soil was so sandy and dry that 
nothing could be raised without watering, 
and the missionaries had with great labour 
brought their water in a ditch from the 
river. The native women, seeing the good 
effects of the water, would sometimes cut 
open the water-ditch and let it flood their 
own gardens, while the owners were de- 
prived of every drop. Often he went three 
miles in the night to procure the water for 
their thirsty gardens. 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 187 

" And even then, after all their toil, it was 
almost impossible to gather the fruit of 
their labour. The natives would steal nearly 
every thing that grew. Once a woman 
became angry because she was told she 
ought not to destroy the ditch which con- 
veyed w^ater, and in revenge went to the 
higher dam where the water was let out of 
the river, and destroyed it, thus leaving the 
missionary without any w^ater excepting 
that which he must bring from a fountain 
at great distance in very hot weather. 
When he brought a wife, he found some 
domestic trials peculiar to their situation. 
It was necessary to lock their house when 
they went to their place of worship; and 
one day the missionary's wife asked a 
native woman ver^^ kindly to leave the 
kitchen, as it was time for service. The only 
answer she made was to take up a piece 
of wood to hurl at her head ! They often 
crowded into the hut, handled every thing 
with their greasj^ hands, and left great num- 
bers of living creatures behind them. When 
they came to public worship, some would be 
laughing, others snoring, some working, 
and some sitting on the benches with their 
knees drawn up to their chins and per- 



188 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

chance fall asleep and tumble over. The na- 
tives even accused them of leaving their 
homes to get their living there. They could 
not understand that they should come there 
for any other reason. Once they were 
accused of being runaways and guilty of 
some crime ! 

^^ ^ If 3^our land was a good one, or if you 
were not afraid of returning, you would not 
be willing to live as you do.' '^ 

'^Why, mother, I should have thought 
they would have been entirely discouraged 
and returned home in despair.'^ 

^^They would have been if their faith had 
not been strong in the power of God's truth. 
They persevered and worked faithfully till 
the Bible was translated into a language that 
is spoken in a district larger than the whole 
of France. As I told you, this missionary 
has been there thirty years. This spot, 
which was so dry and barren, has become 
a beautiful place, physically and morally. 
It is truly a garden of the Lord. The mis- 
sionaries have watered the land by canals 
running from the distant river and foun- 
tains. They have set out fruit-trees, in- 
troduced valuable seeds and plants, have 
taught the natives industry and better me- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 189 

thods of agriculture, as well as some of the 
mechanic arts. They have a church of con- 
sistent native Christians; and they rejoice 
now that their faith did not become weak 
in the day of darkness.'^ 

^' I understand now^ . aunt, what they 
mean by a missionary's ^ life of labour.' I 
used to think they had nothing to do but 
preach. Now I see that they cannot preach 
without learning the language of those to 
whom they are sent, and then they must 
teach them many things before they can 
become very useful Christians. '' 

" Dr. Livingstone gives us the labours of 
one day as a sample of a missionary's life. 

'' They rise early to secure the cool of 
the day in that hot climate; have family 
worship; then breakfast between six and 
seven, then a school for all who would 
attend. After this, while the wife was 
attending to her domestic duties, her hus- 
band would turn smith, carpenter or gar- 
dener, as was most needed, teaching the 
natives these things in return for what 
assistance they might give him. After 
dinner there was an infant school for the 
little ones or a sewing-school for the women. 
In the evening the missionary went out to 



190 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR; 

converse with any who were willing to hear 
him on religious subjects. Three nights in 
a week they had public religious meetings; 
and one night he taught them on secular 
subjects, having pictures and specimens. 
Besides this, he was a physician, and made 
many poor sufferers thankful for his skill. ^' 

'' How little those understand the subject, 
mother, who call the missionary's life an idle 
one, or who speak with contempt of his 
labours !'' 

"They forget that the apostles were all 
missionaries sent out by the Saviour him- 
self. I want to give you one or two 
incidents more to illustrate the influence 
of a good man over the heathen. A mis- 
sionary in South Africa had been travelling 
all day in the hot sun without water, and 
was sleepless all the night from extreme 
thirst and fatigue. The next morning, weary 
and discouraged, he left his companions and 
the wagon to go in search of water; but, on 
going forward, he was startled at the fresh 
tracks of the lion. As he had no gun, he went 
on very cautiously to a little clump of trees 
where he hoped to find water. On reaching 
the spot, what was his astonishment to see 
a venerable old woman, worn to a skeleton, 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 191 

sitting with her head upon her knees ! She 
tried to rise, but was so weak she fell to the 
ground. The missionary said, ^Pray, mo- 
ther, who are you, and how did you come 
here ?' 

^^ His kind words reassured her ; and she 
said, ^ I am a woman : I have been here four 
days. My children have left me here to 
die!' 

'^ ' Your children !' exclaimed the mission- 
ary. 

^^^Yes, my own children, — three sons and 
two daughters. They are gone' (pointing 
with her finger) ^to yonder blue mountain, 
and have left me here to die !' 

'^ * And pray, why did they leave you V 

^^ (Spreading out her hands,) ^I am old, 
you see, and I am. no longer able to serve 
them. When they kill game, I am no longer 
able to help in carrying home the flesh. I 
am not able to gather wood to make a fire; 
and I cannot carry their children on my 
back as I used to.' 

'' The kind-hearted missionary was so over- 
come by this last sentence that he shed tears. 

" He noticed the marks of the lions near 
her, and expressed his surprise that they 
had not devoured her. 



192 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

" She took hold of the skin of her left arm 
as one would do of a piece of loose linen. ' I 
hear the lions/ said she, ^but there is no- 
thing on me they would eat. I have no flesh 
for them to scent V 

*^^The missionary's wagon drew near at 
this moment, and he told the old woman 
that he would put her in and take her to 
a place of safety. At that she became very 
much frightened. ^Nol if you take me to 
another village they will do just so by me 
again. It is our custom. I am nearly dead. 
I do not want to die twice.' 

^^ Finding it impossible to persuade her to 
go with them, they left her some fuel, some 
dried meat and tobacco and a knife, and 
told her to keep up a good fire at night on 
account of the lions, and at the end of two 
days they would return and see to her. 
When they returned, she was gone. Her 
children had learned in some way of the 
kindness of the missionary, and they had 
taken her home and were providing for her 
wants. 

•^ When this missionary had been in South 
Africa for some years, he at one time took 
a journey into a country where no mission- 
aries had been. When they came to a vil- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 198 

lage one night, they would not let them 
enter, neither would they give them water 
or food. The missionary offered all the 
buttons he had left upon his coat for a 
draught of milk or water ; but they refused. 
Weary, hungry and suffering extremely 
from thirst, he sat down outside of the 
village, feelifig that his lot was hard indeed. 
But, as darkness increased, a woman was 
seen coming towards them. On her head 
was a parcel of wood and in her hand a 
vessel of milk. She laid these down and 
went away without speaking a word, but 
soon returned with a leg of mutton and 
some water, and prepared herself to cook 
a repast. 

^^ The missionary asked her again and 
again who she was and why she was so 
kind to them. For a while she made no 
reply; but he saw that tears were stealing 
down her cheeks, ^lly heart is full : there- 
fore I cannot speak the joy I feel to see 
you in this out-of-the-way place. I love 
Him whose servant you are ; and surely it 
is my duty to give you a cup of cold water 
in his name.' 

^^ She then drew from her bosom a copy 
17 



194 THE LAND OF MYSTERY; OR, 

of the New Testament^ which had been 
given her by a missioDaiy, who had taught 
her to read it, years ago, in another part of 
the country. ' This/ said she, ^ is the foun- 
tain where I drink, the oil that makes my 
lamp burn/ ^^ 

^' That shows, aunt, that the heathen are 
made better by the gospel/' 

'^Yesj and only the gospel has power to 
do it; and those who have tried to teach the 
heathen are now convinced that nothing 
has power to move like the simple story of 
the cross. 

'^ The first object of the teacher, after he 
has learned the language, is to tell the vfon- 
dering natives of the life, suiferings and 
death of Christ. It will often melt them 
to tears. 

'^ This knowledge is what we want for 
the poor, degraded tribes of Africa ; and it 
is this alone which will elevate them and 
give them an equality with the other na- 
tions of the earth. 

^' God, for wise reasons, is now opening 
the long-closed gates to this land of mys- 
tery. The Mmrods, the mighty hunters, 
the merchants of the earth that seek rare 
things, ^odours, and ointments, and frank- 



CENTRAL AFRICA. 195 

incense, and wine, and oil, and wheat, and 
beasts, and sheep, and slaves^ and souls of 
men,^ and men of science, are all flocking 
now to these half-open gates. But side by 
side, unnoticed, or perhaps spurned, goes 
the meek missionary with the gospel of the 
Saviour. The world heeds him little now; 
but when Africa shall be redeemed from 
her superstition, and when her children 
shall join that great multitude, whom no 
man can number, that shall stand before the 
Lord clothed in white robes and sing the 
song of salvation to God and the Lamb, 
then shall he who led them by the way of 
the cross rejoice with exceeding joy and 
feel that great is his reward. But; my dear 
boys, let us remember that we need this 
same salvation for ourselves^ and pray that 
the poor African may not rise up in the 
judgment against us.'^ 

^^I think, mother, we shall read with 
great interest now all that comes to us 
from Africa; and I hope that the whole 
country will be explored very soon.'^ 

^^Alread}^ Dr. Barth from the north has 
travelled to within eight degrees of the 
equator, and Dr. Livingstone from the south 
to within the same distance, — leaving six- 



196 THE LAND OF MYSTERY. 

teen degrees still unexplored. A gentleman 
has now gone, hoping to cross the entire 
continent midway between. J mean Lieu- 
tenant Burton.^' 

^^Then, aunt, we shall no longer look 
upon Africa as the land of mystery.^^ 

^^No; and we shall see the missionary 
stations studded thickly over the continent 
as stars in a winter evening sky. You will 
turn to the map and see that there are 
missionary stations already in the following 
countries, — Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, 
Cairo, Gaboon, South Africa, Zanguebar and 
Senegambia. There are eighteen Protestant 
mission stations in South Africa. Our map 
is so small that we could not locate them 
all; but you will see in what countries the 
light of the gospel is already shining. When 
I look upon them, I love to repeat these 
lines : — 

^' Soon Afric's long-enslaved sons 

Shall join witli Europe's polished race, 
To celebrate in different tongues 
The glories of redeeming grace. 

" Erom east to west, from north to south, 
ImmanueFs kingdom shall extend, 
And every man in every face 

Shall meet a brother and a friend." 



2:?.J.in 18fiO. 



PUBLICATIONS 



AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 

ADAPTED TO THE FAMILY, THE BIBLE-CLASS, AND THE 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY. 



How to Live. 

Illustrated in tlie Lives of Frederick Perthes, the Man of Business. 
Gevliard Tersteegen, the Christian Labourer. James Montgomery, 
the Christian Man of Letters. 12mo, cloth, illustrated. 60 cts. 



Biblical Antiquities. 



For the use of Schools, Bible-Classes and Families. By Rev. John W. 
Nevin, D.D. New edition. 12mo, cloth, with eighty illustrations. 
75 cts. 

Lottie's Thought- Book. 

Beautifully illustrated with twenty-five elegant wood-cuts. l2mo, cloth, 
50 cts. 

Historical Tales for Young Protestants. 

A most interesting, instructive and stirring volume for our young 
friends. 12mo, cloth, with thirty illustrations. Fine edition, 75 cts. 
Cheap form, 50 cts. 

Meat- Eaters. 

With some Account of their Haunts and Habits. By the author of 
" Irish Amy," etc. 12mo, cloth, twenty engravings. $1 00. 

Jenny and the Insects. 

Beautifully illustrated with seven highly-finished coloured engravings. 
Square 12mo, cloth, extra gilt. $2 00. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Pond Lily Stories. 

By the author of " The Rutherford Children." Beautifully illustrated 
with highly-fiuished coloured engravings. Square 12mo, cloth, extra 
gilt. $1 75. 

Helme Lodge; or, The Object of Life, 

Embellished with several fine engravings. 12mo, cloth. 60 cts. 

Sunday-School Teachers' Bible Stories. 

Ten Stories in simple language, each illustrated with a large, fine 
engraving. 8vo, cloth, 30 and 35 cents. 

ReadyWork for Willing Hands; or, The Story of 
Comfort Allison. 

Bj the author of " Irish Amy." A very expressive development of some 
of the principles of social reform. 12mo, cloth, 60 cts. 

The Life of Luther. 

With Special Reference to its Earlier Periods and the Opening Scenes of 
the Reformation. By Baristas Sears, D.D. This is an original work, 
and written expresslj^ for the American Sunday-School Union. 
12mo. cloth, illustrated with steel and wood engravings, finished in 
the highest style of the art. $1 00. 

New Union Bible Dictionary. 

A new, improved and beautifully-illustrated edition of this popular and 
useful book has lately been published. It has been carefully revised, 
many articles abridged and new articles inserted. The type and 
page are larger, and the number of words greater, than in the for 
mer edition. It is illustrated with over two nundred nev/ engravings, 
some of which are full-page size. 12mo, cloth, $1 25 ; large 18mo. 
65 cts. 

Catacombs of Rome. 

Containing the most important and interesting facts touching the sub- 
terranean cemeteries of the ancient city of Rome. It is very fully 
illustrated, and presents to view many important truths enforced or 
illustrated by the singular discoveries in these ancient burial-places, 
■l2mo, cloth, 60 cts. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Life in India ; or, Sketches in Madras, the Neil- 
gherries and Calcutta. 

By Rev. John W. Dulles. This is an original work, written for the 
Society, and presents to our view, with lifelike familiarity, the scenes 
not only of the missionary life, bnt of society generally, in that 
interesting section of the globe. 12mo, cloth, $1 00. 

Watts's Divine and Moral Songs. 

A new and bGautifnUy-illustrated edition, 8to, cloth, 60 cts. 

The Mine Explored ; or. Help to the Reading of 
the Bible. 

With Maps and Chronological Index of the principal events in the Bible. 
It is indispensable to all who either teach or study the Bible for in- 
struction. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts. 

The Way of Life. 

By Charles Hodge, Professor in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, 
N. J. 12mo, cloth. 75 cts. 

The American Sunday-School and its Adjuncts. 

.\ treatise on the position and power of the Sunday-school as a popular 
American institution. By Rev. J. W. Alexander, D.B. It is a book 
from which the Philosopher and the Statesman, as well as the Philan- 
thropist and the Christian, will derive pleasure and proiit. 12mo, 
cloth, 75 cts. 

Boys and Girls' Scrap-Book. 

12mo, illustrated. 40 cts. 

The Great Question, ^^Will you Consider the 
Subject of Personal Religion ?" 

By Tlev. Henry A. Boardman, D.D., 12mo, cloth, 50 cts. 
" This important question, upon which depends the life or death of 
the soul, here propounded, is pressed upon the heart and conscience 
with earnestness and power." 

Elizabeth Fry; or, The Christian Philanthropist. 

I2ni(), cloth, 75 cts. 



THE mmm sonday-school union 

HAS IN COURSE OP PREPARATION THE FOLLOWINa 

NEW BOOKS. 



I. 

Bessie Duncan; or, The First Year out of 
School. 

II. 

Broken Cisterns; or, Lessons for Life, from 

the Story of Jessie Worthington. 

III. 
The First Twenty Years of my Life« 

IV. 

Little Freddy, the Hunaway. 

V. 

The Labourer's Wife; or, Hints to Make 
Humble Homes Happy. 

VI. 

Leaves from the Tree of Life. 

VII. 

The Little Herdsman. 

By the author of " Grandfather Merrie." 
VIII. 

Sunday all the Week. 

Beautifully illustrated. 
IX 

Emma Allston; or. The New Life. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



X. 

Carrie's School-Days ; or. Principle Put to the 
Test. 

XI. 

Margaret Forbes; or, Bread found after 
Many Days. 

XII. 

The Stain upon the Hand, 

XIII. 

Chloe Lankton ; or, Light beyond the Cloud. 

XIV. 

Hans and his Northern Home. 

XV. 

The Master-Key; or, The Way to Human 
Hearts. 

XVI. 

The Working-Boy's Sunday Improved. 

XVII. 

Ellen Mordaunt; or, The Fruits of True 
Religion. 

XVIII. 

Evelyn Grey ; or. Flowers Thrive in Sunshine* 

XIX. 

Over the Sea ; or, Letters from an OflS.cer in 
India to his Children at Home. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



XX. 

Sunday Sunshine; E"ew Hymns and Poems 
for the Young. 

XXI. 

Masters and Workmen : A Tale for the Times. 

XXII. 

Fourteen "Ways of Studying the Bible. 

XXIII. 

Charlie Grant ; or, How to do Right. 

XXIV. 

Bars of the Spiritual Harvest ; or, Narratives 
of the Christian Life. 

XXV. 

The Right Choice ; or. The Difference between 

"Worldly Diversions and national Kecreations. 

XXVI. 

The Little Guide, and Adrighoole ; or, How to 
be Happy. 



Nature's School ; or, Lessons in the Garden 
and the Field. 

XXVIII. 

The Bridge Over the Brook, 



«% 



<?. 



% 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS # 



III 

020 126 439 A I 




-MM 








mWM 






